


Magnificent Magnus and his Marvellous Magic Act

by edwick96



Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: AU, Angst, Fluff, Humour, M/M, Magic AU, Police AU, background clace, background izzy/simon/raphael
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-12
Updated: 2017-10-12
Packaged: 2019-01-16 10:52:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 31,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12341220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/edwick96/pseuds/edwick96
Summary: Ladies and gentleman the story you're about to read will amaze and astound you! Watch as dedicated policeman Alec Lightwood falls for the dazzling street performer, Magnus Bane! There'll be thrills, chills, tears and cheers! Come one, come all!





	Magnificent Magnus and his Marvellous Magic Act

**Author's Note:**

> This is the longest thing I've ever written I think I have carpal tunnel. Hopefully it can tide a few folks over until S3!

“Jace would you cut that out you’re getting crumbs all over the car!” this must have been the tenth time Alec has told him.

“Oh dude you gotta try this, it’s a croissanwich, it’s so good,” Alec’s brother elongated the “o” sound so long he started to get grossed out.

“A what?”

“A croissanwich, a croissant sandwich. It’s got bacon and sausage and cheese. Here taste it,” he waved the offending item in Alec’s face.

Alec almost gagged, “Dude stop I’d rather keep my original heart.”

“Fine! God you’re such a buzz kill,” Jace took a loud gulp from his cup, “I know what will cheer you up! Here’s another hypothetical. If you met a tiny man, and I mean really tiny like an inch tall but otherwise normal, and someone gave you 5 million dollars to eat him, would you do it?”

Alec had learned long ago it was easier to just answer these kinds of questions, or he’d never hear the end of it, “Yes, I would eat the tiny man.”

“What?” Jace bellowed, “That’s a person man, a real person with real feelings. He might have even had a tiny little family, they could have a nice house!”

“Yeah still. I think 5 million dollars would help me get over it.” Alec scoffed.

His brother took an obnoxiously large bite of his sandwich, “That’s fucked up man.”

“Ew Jace gross! The crumbs!” He opened the window to flick them out, and was hit in the face with the smell of diesel fumes and burnt meat.

The city always smelled rancid. It didn’t look too pretty either. It was one of the most unkempt and dangerous cities in the state, known for it’s high crime rates, specifically theft and assault. It was definitely tough being a cop here, even tougher being newbies on the beat in one of the shadier districts. No one here liked cops.

For this reason, Jace and Alec usually ate their lunch in their car, while Jace fired of ridiculous and often time’s vulgar hypotheticals. Jace was a fantastic cop, one of the brightest rising stars on the force, and an even better brother, but he was insufferable sometimes. And he knew how to push Alec’s buttons.

“Ok another one, would you rather vomit every day for a month, or-“

Their radio started crackling signalling an announcement, saving Alec from another horrendous question.

“We’ve got reports of a potential robbery, suspect headed your way on a red motorbike, carrying a backpack filled with stolen cash.”

“On it,” Alec replied, and no sooner than he placed the mic back, the suspect’s bike roared by them.

“Ok hold on!” Alec hit the ignition and quickly drove away from the curb. He was a notoriously bad driver, overdoing it in his haste to catch the bad guy. He was pretty sure if he weren’t a police officer he would have been fined thousands of dollars by now.

“Jesus dude ease up!” Some of Jace’s drink spilled out of his cup but Alec was too focused to care, his eyes locked on the speeding bike in front of them. The rider looked behind him at the sound of the police sirens, and sped up, sliding between two cars and making a turn. Alec violently turned the steering wheel, causing the car’s wheels to screech.

The traffic began to build up as they entered a more heavily populated area. The biker used the opportunity to swerve through lanes ahead of cars, but Alec stayed right on his heels the whole time. The car wasn’t as easily manoeuvrable as a motorbike but Alec’s focus had given him the ability to keep up without crashing the car, even if there where a few close calls, hitting other vehicles or pedestrians.

“Alec, you nearly just hit that old woman are you insane?” Alec didn’t respond. The lights at the next intersection flicked orange and the biker took the opportunity to speed through, as it turned red. Alec’s foot almost hit the floor as he ran the light, narrowly avoiding getting t-boned by a cement truck.

Jace was curled in the foetal position, his cup held firmly in one hand, spilling a bit at every swerve.

The rider took another look behind him to see if he was still being followed, and then mounted a sidewalk to squeeze through a very narrow street that Alec wasn’t fast enough to turn into.

“Fuck!” Alec banged his hand against the wheel and made a beeline for the next turn.

“Alec what are you doing he’s gone!”

“No he isn’t.”

Another turn, and the sound of the bikes engine rose in their ears again. Alec had circled a whole block to cut the bike off.

Alec slammed on the brakes; their heads bobbing back and forth like pop vinyls.

“Alec, look out!”  
The bike couldn’t slow down fast enough, and hit the police car dead on, the rider tumbling over the hood, backpack still attached.

They sat there for what felt like minutes, huffing in shock. “Oh my god we killed him” Jace whined, “There’s going to be so much paperwork!”

A shape moved to their right, as the biker rose slowly to his feet with a groan, and began to limp away from them.

“Holy shit.”

“I’m not losing him now,” Alec slammed his door open and rushed out of the car as the robber began running.

“Alec the car!” Jace screamed.

“Stay with it!” Jace sighed, duh. He looked down into his almost empty cup and tipped the rest into his mouth, tapping the bottom for good measure.

Alec felt the blood pumping through his legs and his chest began to burn as he picked up speed. He was glad his parents made him do track as a kid; it really did help when perpetrator tried to run on you. He wasn’t the most confident runner, but he’d grown into his long limbs and took massive strides forward. The robber was shifty though, ducking and dodging, always remaining out of Alec’s reach.

They entered the shopping district, and the foot traffic became heavier, shoppers leaving the store began blocking their path, the thief just barrelled through the crowd, knocking people over, the sound of yelps and screams the only indication of where he was, as Alec couldn’t see past the crowd. He apologised profusely to the bystanders as he went.

They burst through the sea of people and sprinted across the road, and a symphony of car horns blared out as he stopped the traffic. In his haste to follow Alec almost got hit by a pickup truck that stopped short before it made contact. 

Several more twists and turns led the burglar down a path between two shops, it was a dead end, cut off by a chain-link fence. “I’ve got you now you mother f-“ right as Alec made the jump to grab him, the thief jumped up on the dumpster pushed against the fence, and used the extra height to climb over. Alec swore under his breath. He didn’t really know parkour so it was a difficult job copying the other mans movements; he cut his hand trying to climb over the fence.

The thief was really trying to shake him, and after a few more blocks of being followed he dodged into a door on the side of what looked like a restaurant. Alec opened the door and was smacked in the face with the smell of steam and shellfish. It almost didn’t look like the thief had run through here at all. 

He slowly walked along rows of benches and burners, carful not to touch anything.

A large man suddenly stepped into his path; he must have been the head chef. He yelled a slew of angry words in French, Alec tried to side step him awkwardly but the man stood rock steady.

“Stop! I’m with the police- I don’t speak French!” it was right at that moment he heard a huge crash, and the thief leapt out of his hiding space, pushing over several pots, and chefs. 

Alec was quick to react this time, avoiding slipping on any of the water that had spilled on the floor. The thief had made a mistake by staying in one spot, and as they both broke through the doors into the dining area Alec leapt, knocking the thief off of his feet onto the ground in view of a full room of diners.

He mentally high fived himself, “You have the right to remain silent, anything you say and do could-“

He couldn’t read the rest of the rights. Because of the position he was holding he him in, the criminal was in just the right angle to knee Alec hard in the balls, knocking the wind out of him. He fell over coughing, as the thief used the momentto run away. He heard the diners in the room laughing at him, and he could see a few of them holding their phones up to take pictures.

His radio began to crackle to life, and his brother’s voice came through, “Alec, hey Alec you’ve been gone a long time are you there? Did you catch the guy?”

Alec groaned, rolling onto his back he grabbed the mic, “No, I didn’t catch him.”

“Woah you don’t sound too good man, did he hurt you?”

Alec had to pause before he answered, “No. You’re a lot closer to the precinct than I am, you head back and give the sergeant the low down I’ll head back there myself.”

“Sure if you want man, he’s not going to be happy though. See you then.” Alec sighed picking himself off the floor and exiting the restaurant pretending like he had some dignity left. He didn’t relish the idea of being chewed out by the sergeant so he took his time walking back, taking some of the less shady streets home. 

The truth was he actually loved the city, for all it’s faults it had a certain charm to it. The people here worked hard, with what little they had, and you never felt like you where being judged. He was grateful to even find a place to live here after the altercation with their parents, when he and Jace, and their sister Izzy had moved out together. It wasn’t the nicest place sure, their building was pretty old and badly looked after but it was their home now, and they where proud of it because they’d found it themselves.

One of his favourite things about living here was the local street scene. The artists here had a lot of heart, and wanted to share their passion with the world, so walking around town you could always find amazing street acts, singers, artists, dance troupes. The train station was the centre of it all and as he walked towards it he felt the air change. The crowd walking along here felt freer, you’d never think this was a place where crime rates where so high.

He saw a red headed girl, probably about his age, delicately etching portraits with a piece of charcoal. The line for people to get their portrait done was massive; she couldn’t possibly get through them all by the end of the day by the amount of detail she was going into. She smiled and chatted excitedly with an old lady sitting on a chair in front of her. Alec could see her current work, it was beautiful.

He walked by a few more acts before he came across a large circle of people, what they where gathering around he couldn’t see at first, but his height meant he didn’t have to push through or strain to look too hard.

A man was standing in the middle of the crowd, moving and talking animatedly, a sign on a little table read next to him, “Magnificent Magnus’ Marvellous Magic Show. Alec inwardly cringed, most magic shows he’d seen here had been destined to fail, he saw a guy set fire to his own hat once. 

The man in the middle of the circle didn’t look like a novice. He looked like he was made of gold, from the rings of his fingers, his nails, to the glitter and colourful streaks in his hair. His shirt fit perfectly to his body and was covered in an intricate flower pattern that seemed to shine as well. He was a jewel in a city where jewels weren’t plentiful. Alec was sure this was probably the most breathtaking man he’d ever seen. He was also sure the man was likely to get robbed walking around the city like that.

“Hello ladies and gentleman, I am the magnificent Magnus. I’m going to need a member of the audience to help me out, any takers?” his voice was a beautiful purr; it drew you in, and swirled around your brain. It made Alec feel weird. He was kind of jealous of the pretty woman who came to help Magnus with the trick, shaking his hand, which was ridiculous because Alec was a grown man.

“Okay lovely, what’s your name my darling?”

“Penny,” the girl giggled.

“Beautiful name, Penny would you happen to have a coin on you we could borrow for this trick?” the girl shook her head, Magnus smiled warmly, “Doesn’t matter I’m sure we can fine one- here!” he made it look like he plucked the coin from behind her ear. The crowd laughed, “Thank ladies and gentleman that’s the whole trick.” He laughed, “No I’m kidding ok. I have a marker here penny would you please initial your name on the face of it? Thank you dear. You can see this is a real coin? You can bite down on it if you want.” The girl giggled and nodded.

“Okay so! Here’s the coin, plain as day now Penny would you squeeze your fist really tight, like you’re going to punch something. I’m going to stand over here, now watch.” He rolled up the sleeves to his shirt, showing of some pretty impressive arms, Alec felt his heart skip, and Magnus threw the coin the girls way. But the coin never reached her, nor did it hit the ground. The crowd was confused.

“You’ve had your fist closed now for a bit, did you feel anything as I tossed you the coin? No? Okay maybe try opening your hand?” The crowd almost seemed to inhale at once, and so did Alec, but then murmur in confusion as the girl opened up an empty hand. Magnus sighed, as if disappointed his trick hadn’t worked. Alec’s chest clenched, “Not there? Hmm how about you check behind the face of your watch there?” And sure enough, Penny pulled the coin, with the P on it, from under her watch. The crowd went wild, and Alec couldn’t help clapping with them. “Second time’s always the charm I find.” He ushered the women back towards her friends and continued his act. People would normally only stop at acts like this for a minute or two but the whole crowd was hooked for about 15 minutes.

The magician moved a mile a minute, mixing fabulous tricks with his dry sense of humour, producing cards and coins, and at one point even a cupcake, out of nowhere. He was dazzling, and blinding and Alec never wanted to tear his eyes away. Soon enough tho the act finished, the crowd leaving handfuls of cash into a little hat the man had put out for tips. Alec felt a little disappointed, he probably wouldn’t see the man again, acts tended to move around the city, preferring to not stay in one place. 

He kind of wanted to take a chance and go and talk to the guy. He usually had no problems talking to people, but this guy was different. His aura and likeability and his outward appearance were a little intimidating. He then realised he needed to be back at the precinct, and his longing turned to panic. The sergeant was going to eat him alive.

He hurried forward, quickly grabbing some notes from his wallet and sticking them in the magician’s hat. As he stood up again, he caught the man’s eye as he was packing up some of his gear. He was like a rabbit in a trap then, staring for a couple of seconds, before the magician gave him a wink, and Alec jumped and moved away, in awe of what he had just witnessed but annoyed with himself for not saying something.

*****

Sergeant Garroway was a fair man, a kind man, and a strong man. He was warm and sensitive and would do anything to help a victim or a friend, calming them down and making them feel better after dealing with trauma. 

He was also terrifying. 

He could get suspects to confess quicker than anyone in the precinct, and he could glare the truth out of anybody. 

Alec felt like he was being interrogated right now. He had never been on the sergeant’s bad side before; he couldn’t say he cared for it much. It turns out, after reading his and Jace’s reports, he wasn’t happy with the outcome of the chase the day before.

“You’re not GI Joe lightwood, you weren’t in an action movie with a big expensive chase scene, in the real world, things like this have consequences! You damaged the shocks and the wheels of your car driving like a lunatic, there were several complaints from civilians that they felt like they where in danger as the perp pushed them down, and you caused a scene in a restaurant. And then you let him get away!” Alec flinched. He swore Garroway had just spit his lunch all over him.

“Sarge, I told you, I had him right there-“

“And he kneed you in the nuts, I know Jace couldn’t stop talking about it” The shouting was attracting the attention of some of the other members of the precinct; Alec really didn’t feel like having that embarrassing moment broadcast across the city.

Garroway wiped a hand across his face and sighed, “Look, I know you tried, Lightwood but the truth is this this isn’t the first robbery that followed this MO, we’re beginning to suspect that these aren’t just random crimes, that there’s a ring of thieves stealing from stores and banks all across the city. When we put out the alert about your guy yesterday we were hoping to find a lead.”

Alec sunk in his chair and stared at the table in front of him, sighing, ” I’m sorry I had no idea, I’ll do whatever it takes to make it up to you, maybe I could help with the case?”

The sergeant scratched at his beard pensively, “Usually I wouldn’t have a beat cop working a serious case like these, but I know how hard you can work when you set your mind to something, you won’t quit. Maybe that’s just what we need to crack this thing.”

Alec could have gotten whiplash with how fast the direction of the conversation had turned; such was the changeability of the sergeant. Becoming a detective, doing hard-core police work was his dream. He was tired of sitting around in the car for most of the day waiting for some action.

“Hell if you do a good enough job, I might even be able to consider recommend you become a full time detective, the sergeant finally smiled.

*****

However when he and Jace were given their first task in helping solve the case, “real” police work seemed like an impossible fever dream. They had to make house calls to some of the recent places that had been robbed in the last few weeks.

First was the bank that was robbed the day Alec had chased down the suspect. The women behind the counter were ancient, a burglar could probably just walk in and out without being seen or heard they was that over the hill.

“What happened when you were robbed?” Jace all but screamed for the tenth time. “Did you see the guy’s face?”

“Haha I think it’s Tuesday dear,” the old woman nodded to herself.

Jace’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head and he grunted in exasperation. Alec stepped forward, and tried a different method, talking calmly and using his hands to act out what he was saying. It took a while, but they finally got the old woman to call in her supervisor. 

They learned that the burglar had dressed as a delivery man, delivering boxes of envelopes, and being a naïve old broad the lady had let him into the back rooms, where he’d snuck into the safe room. He hadn’t tried to break the big safe but there where lots of smaller safety deposits boxes that he had picked open, taking any money he found.

Alec’s desk phone rang as they returned from the bank. “Hello?”

“Alec! I just applied for the club job, you know the one that we where talking about last night? I’m so nervous they said they’d call later but I think I screwed up I kept talking about my previous jobs and why I kept getting fired, and then when I shook the guys hand as I left I accidently knocked a bottle of something that looked very expensive on the floor. So I guess I’m going to be jobless for the rest of my life.”

“Who is this?” Alec asked teasingly. 

“Alec!” his sister bashed their house phones against the cradle, causing deafening noise that hit Alec right in the ear. 

His sister Izzy had been in-between jobs for a while now and he knew she was frustrated; he just loved pulling her chain. He knew how important it was to get this job. She was an amazing woman; smart, gorgeous, talented, witty you name it, but her big personality rubbed people the wrong way sometimes, so she’d always moved from job to job, looking for her true calling.

“Izzy, calm down, you’re a shoo-in. You were made for this job, party planning, talking to cool people, organising events, that’s perfect for you, any employer would be lucky to have you,” Alec was talking like he was reading through a check list. “Feel better?”

Izzy took a deep breath, “Yes. How’s your big important case going? Are you captain of the precinct yet?”

“It’s exhausting. I’m just about to head home. I’m gonna get takeout what do you want?”

“Ooh Thai please!”

He hung up, and Jace walked up to his desk flipping his jacket on, “Hey, you home with me?”

Instinctively Alec said no, using grabbing dinner as an excuse. Obviously Jace could have come with him to do that, but there was another reason he wanted to walk home, even though he was ashamed to admit it. It was childish he knew, and the man at the station might not even be preforming, but he had this feeling in his gut that he needed to head home alone. 

Sure enough as he walked towards the train station he saw the small crowd, in the same spot as last time, it might even be a little bigger. They all came to see the silly street magic show. Alec couldn’t talk, he’d all but skipped to the circle of people, his height working in his favour once again, although he wished he could get a little closer, what if someone was called forward to help with another trick.

The magician was once again in the middle of the crowd, talking animatedly with his audience, his hands emphasising his words. Alec was kind of hypnotised, the shiny rings and elegant fingers making him dizzy for some reason. There was a strange feeling rising in his chest again as he looked on, stronger than last time.

Alec startled as he noticed someone else within the circle. Perched lazily on top of a little pedestal sat a cat, looking highly unimpressed. Alec laughed at the absurdity of it.

“This is Chairman Meow!” the man walked towards the frowning feline, “Say hello chairman…” The cat continued to look stoically forward, “Wow I’ve never heard him be so vocal! What a chatterbox, anyway he’s here to help me do some tricks today, and the chairman loves a good card trick so…” with a flick of the wrist he produced a pile of playing cards seemingly out of nowhere. 

”I need a volunteer, you sir! With all those wonderful tattoo’s would you like to help me?” sure enough a tallish man lumbered forward, grinning weirdly. He was very clearly stoned. Alec should have stepped forward, but he was off duty and he didn’t want to disturb the show.

“Okay so step forward, next to the chairman that’s it, now I’m going to shuffle these cards and you’re going to tell me when to stop,” he began shuffling at breakneck speed, in every skilled way possible, Alec’s eyes were again pulled towards his hands with the intricacy of it.

He fanned the cards out, “Pick a card, any one at all, that’s it, now tell the crowd what it is, what it looks like,” It was the seven of diamonds. “Okay now back in the deck it goes,” after the card was place back in the deck there was more elaborate shuffling.

“Watch! As I pull the seven of diamonds from the top of the deck!” He pulled the top card from the deck, and looked at it frowning. “Oh dear. That’s not it is it!” He showed the crowd that it was the four of clubs. Alec knew it was a misdirect but he was still excited for what came next. The magician moved towards his cat, “Chairman perhaps you can help, I was sure this was the mans card. Do you think I pulled the wrong card?” What he did next was very peculiar. He rubbed the card on top of the cat’s head face down. “The chairman is sure I pulled the right, and would you look at that he’s right!” He showed the crowd that the card that was definitely not the seven of diamonds, now in fact was.” The crowd clapped, the cat was magic too apparently. “Well done Chairman, but I may need the four of clubs later on so could you please give it back?” another rub on the head and the card became the four of clubs again.

Alec watched on as the show took another quarter of an hour, during which the tricks became more and more bizarre, the cat actually coughed up a card like it was a fur ball. “Thank you ladies and gentleman, once again I am the magnificent Magnus, it was a pleasure to have you all here today, his eyes searched the crowd, and suddenly locked onto Alec, like a search light. Alec’s heart almost jumped up to his throat as Magnificent Magnus have him the most blindingly beautiful smile he’d ever seen, “Hope to see you all again next time!” he was addressing the crowd but continued to look at Alec for another moment. 

Was he talking to him? Surely not it was just wishful thinking. Alec wasn’t sure, all he knew as he walked away stumbling was that he was hooked, line and sinker. He’d forgotten to leave a tip.

******

“Alec where the hell have you been? I’m starving,” Isabelle skidded into their tiny kitchen in a very revealing set of pyjamas.

“I’m sorry, I walked home so it took a bit longer,” Izzy snatched the plastic bag out of his hand.

“You better have bought me my Pad Thai or I’ll-“ She frowned, “What the fuck is this?” She pulled a small book out of the bag. Alec went to grab for it. He’d stopped at the bookstore in the shopping district after buying dinner. He didn’t know what possessed him, but before he knew it was at the counter buying a book. 

“Harry Potter?” she laughed, “What the fuck Alec this is like, for kids. Why are you buying books?”

He snatched it out of her hand, “It’s fun for all ages, take your damn food.” He knew why he’d bought it obviously. He’d developed an unhealthy relationship with the mystic arts after crushing on a magician.

“You’ve finally gone insane,” she cackled walking over to their lumpy old couch.

Their lounge room was a war zone, clothes and food containers covering every surface. It was cramped and dimly lit and there were cracks and holes in the walls. It wasn’t the worst apartment in the world but it definitely needed some TLC and an air freshener. 

“So did you hear about the job?” Alec asked in a desperate bid to change the subject. It worked, because Izzy loved to talk about herself.

“Yes,” she squealed, “I start on Thursday for a trial hosting their annual white party, they do this thing at the end called a foam party, it’s basically like a giant bubble bath you dance, maybe strip down a little,” she winked, “You should come, it’d be right up your alley.” 

Alec pointedly ignored whatever that was supposed to mean, “You know you won’t be the one ding the partying right?”

“Yeah yeah, I know, I am actually quite responsible when I want to be. I get a decent pay too so I’ll finally be able to chip in around here, maybe we can finally patch up that hole where you put your fist through the wall a few months ago. Why’d you do that anyway? Had your sexual frustration become so great that you’d hulked out? A big pink hulk.” She giggled, and he did as well, knowing she only made these jokes out of love.

“I told you it was just work, it was frustrating I was up all night working on a case…”

“You should download Grindr,” she continued.

Alec crinkled his nose in disgust. He didn’t like people, why would he want to meet up with random strangers online. “I told you I don’t need any of that.”

“Of course not! Because now you have Harry Potter to keep you company. You can play with your wand all by yourself.”

****

The next week was one of the most tiring Alec had ever experienced before becoming a cop. Thanks to their delivery service lead they could now go forward and investigate the company themselves.

“How many movers do you have working for you?” Jace asked the man who owned the trucks.

“About twenty three. We sell office supplies in bulk that’s probably why the bank tellers let your criminals in. But I can tell you it was none of my guys, I know these guys. There good people.”

They worked all the way to lunchtime interviewing deliverymen extensively, learning how the service worked, their schedules for delivery and the amount of clients they had. The bank was the third place to be robbed under this same MO. They where given a list of clients, and decided to send out calls to all the remaining buyers to check for any suspicious activity. 

Burglary on this scale usually meant one of the thieves had to case the delivery spots; they might be able to catch someone snooping around before anything else happened.

The next day he and Jace had a conversation over lunch.

“You’ve been acting weird this week,” Jace spoke around a mouthful of Kripsy Kreme, the stereotype held true.

“What do you mean? Are you saying I’m not doing a good job?” Alec frowned at him.

“No, I mean when you get time to think you go all spacey. You’re not as moody, and I don’t know if that’s good or bad. I mean I’m over here eating donuts flicking stuff everywhere and you’re staring out the window like you’re in a music video what’s going on?”

“Nothing. I’m just feeling really stressed recently with the case.” It was true, the work was starting to get to him again, like it had so many other times before. “Sorry. And you’re right stop eating donuts in the car.”

If he was going to get promoted he needed to give his all to his work. He’d done this before, using work as an excuse to not do things for himself, but he was too stubborn and proud to notice.

Jace and Izzy noticed tho, because for the next week Alec worked himself sick, 8am to 8pm, coming home so drained Izzy had to practically shovel food into his mouth so he didn’t starve to death, and then he’d pass out, until it started again eight hours later. 

Jace and Luke looked on at the station as he stared at documents over and over again until the words no longer made sense and his vision blurred. 

“Lightwood!” Alec bolted upright, a post-it note stuck to his forehead. He must have dozed off.

“What are you doing man, why are you still here, you haven’t slept in days.” Alec didn’t really know why he’d started wearing himself down like this. 

He’d done this a few times before. After being cut off from his parents Alec wouldn’t sit down for two weeks straight, working on rental applications and buying stuff for their apartment, trying to do it all single handed. It was a coping mechanism that had become a compulsion, resurfacing seemingly at random from time to time. It was a temporary thing however, so he was using the adrenaline inside to work on the case.

“Go home lightwood, the case has run cold for now, you’ve done enough. This will all still be here when you get back.”

“Sarge-“

“That’s an order. You look like shit man.”

Alec sighed, trudging away from his desk and out the door. It was true he wasn’t taking anything in. After working like he had for a whole week the process of coming down and refreshing sounded really good. He cursed inwardly because he realised Jace was out that day and he’d have to walk home. He was exhausted.

The cool air woke him up a bit, after being boxed inside for so long it was good to take some deep breaths. For the first time in a week he remembered. He’d only opened his Harry Potter books a couple of times, one when he got it and one when he couldn’t sleep after work, and more importantly he hadn’t been to the train station.

He didn’t have the energy to walk fast so when he got there he was surprised to see there was no large crowd around the area where the Magnificent Magnus performed. The magician was there setting up, Alec could see him for the first time out of his showman persona, he looked relaxed as he worked. Alec didn’t want to go up and be the first to watch, finding himself oddly shy and too nervous. He never got like this.

“Hey! Cop guy!” called a sweet voice. Alec jumped, expecting someone in trouble calling for help. He turned to see the small red headed girl, the one who drew the amazing portraits.

“Uh hey.”

“You’re the policeman Magnus was talking about,” that got his attention. How did she know him, how did Magnus know him? Had he been talking about him? The thought made him nervous but also ridiculously excited. He found himself walking over to the girl.

“Um yeah I guess that might be me? I mean he’s a street performer I’m sure he’s seen a lot of cops… on the street.” He rubbed the back off his neck, suddenly a little nervous. 

“No it’s definitely you,” she looked at him appraisingly, “Tall, black hair, nice eyes, geeky. I can see how he likes you your totally his type.” That just raised further questions. Magnus liked him? And he thought he had nice eyes. 

“I’m sorry how do you know Magnus?”

“We’re old friends. I showed him this place and told him how popular his show would be here, and I was right. A couple weeks ago he told me he saw a good-looking cop during his show. It was casual but then you came back, he was pretty excited. Where have you been, he told me you haven’t seen you in a while he was bummed out.”

“Uh I’ve been kind of busy.” He would have preferred to hear all of this from Magnus. Maybe he was waiting for Alec to say something. Should he ask him about it right now?

“Well, his show’s about to start, maybe go and say hi.” She smiled sweetly at him, setting up her easel and sign. He nodded dumbly at her and cautiously walked over. 

Magnus had started playing some loud music, like you’d hear at a circus. A small crowd was building which he was thankful for. He was still taller than most of the people there so he still stood out.

“Come one come all, and see Magnificent Magnus’ Marvellous Magic Show!” He rallied a few more people before starting with some simple crowd warm ups. He really was very charming, everything came with a flourish and a flare, but there was still something forceful in his voice that made Alec’s stomach burn. Now that he had a better view he could also see how form fitting his clothing was, and his angular, handsome face.

He started with a few simple card tricks, silly little things that would be considered novice, but Alec knew better.’

“Okay for my next trick I have something wonderful planned! But I’ll need an assistant,” he pondered before looking directly at Alec, the policemen panicked a little.

“Ah who better to help than one of our wonderful officers of the law, would you like to help me?” Alec’s stomach started doing backflips, trying to contort his face into an indulgent, curious smile, althewhile remembering what the girl with the red hair had said. Magnus liked him? “Okay Mr policeman I have some cards here, I’m going to shuffle them, and then you cut them whenever you want, and pulled one out” the crowd chuckled at Magnus’ crewd joke, Alec ducked his head down, to busy picking a card.

“Okay,” a sharpie was produced, “would you like to write your name down on the front,” Alec did, hands shaking a bit. Magnus took the card and looked, “Ah Alec, what a nice name, and you picked the two of hearts, how fitting. His voice lowered a little. There was no way he pulled that by coincidence, had Magnus rigged it? His doubts where squashed as Magnus showed the audience that all the cards where in fact different. He shuffled once again, “Okay could you please hold the deck for a moment?” Alec did, and their fingers grazed. 

Magnus reached into the too-tight pockets of his pants and produced a deflated balloon. “Mkay so I have a balloon, It’s completely in tact no holes let met show you,” he inflated the balloon a little bit, looking at Alec. It was almost obscene at this point but Alec didn’t mind. He could see the shiny lip-gloss on the magician’s lips. “See? No holes. Okay pass me back the deck Alec, Thank you, now watch!”

He held the balloons over the deck in his other hand, and clapped them together. The cards were suddenly secured tightly within the balloon. The crowd clapped excitedly.

“But that’s not all!” Magnus spoke like he was in an infomercial selling vacuum cleaners. He blew the balloon up again carefully, and all the cards separated to the bottom. He shook it a bit to show they where all there, rattling inside. “Okay, for the raison d'etre.” He raised his hand and popped it with a perfectly manicured and polished nail.

Alec had to blink several times before believing what he was seeing. All the cards had disappeared but one. The two of hearts, with Alec’s name on it in the palm of Magnus’ hand.

“How-“ he looked at Magnus, and the magician winked at him. The crowd was cheering but Alec didn’t notice, as far as he was concerned it was only the two of them there. He swallowed and saw Magnus look at his throat, presumably looking at his Adams apple.

“Thank you Alec, you’ve been wonderful.” Magnus said sweetly. Alec nodded in acknowledgment and hobbled to the back of the crowd.

The show went on but he couldn’t focus, so he moved to the back and slowly tried to disappear unnoticed. As he walked away, a little dizzy, he looked at the card still in his hand, his name on the front. He flipped it, and was shocked to see on the back a phone number was written with a little winky face. 

*****

“You’re oddly chipper Alec, what are you doing home so early?” Izzy looked like she had just gotten out of bed, which was normal at this time he supposed because now she worked to the early hours of the morning at her job. They usually didn’t see a lot of each other after he got home and she left.

“Yeah Sarge sent me home early, said I wasn’t doing any good at the station in this condition,” he meant it to sound sarcastic and scathing, but he was still a bit giddy and couldn’t muster up any real aggression. He definitely felt better than he had before leaving the station.

“Well you look absolutely devastated. Wanna talk about it?”

“No,” he flopped down on the couch, “How’s work going?”

“Oh my god! It’s amazing.” She talked for a bout a half hour in detail about the amazing people she’d met at her job, the important people she’d seen, the contacts she’d made. Her first job was a complete success, “Ladies drink free.” When Alec asked how that made good business sense she said that it evened out when all the ladies got there, twice the amount of men followed.  
“That’s creepy,” he was a little shocked.

“We have the most amazing group of security guys and bouncers. If anyone tries anything they get tossed right out and we make sure no one get’s taken advantage of- Oh my god!” she shrieked and Alec flinched, “The head of security, his name is Raphael, and oh my god Alec he is the hottest man on earth you can see his pecs through his Jacket. And the barman, Simon, he’s the sweetest guy and such a nerd I just want to pinch his little cheeks!”

Alec scoffed, “Is that all you want to pinch?” he got a beating over the head with a cushion for that. “I’m kidding, you are a consummate professional, and I’m happy for you, really it sounds like you’re having fun.”

“Well one of us has to,” Izzy teased, “Seriously I’ve been so worried about you this last week. I don’t like manic Alec.” There was real concern in her tone, and his heart melted in a way that only Izzy could manage.

“I’m fine Iz, really. I just really want to solve this case, so maybe I can get recommended for a promotion you know? Help us pay for the apartment, fix it up a little like we keep saying we will.” 

She sighed, sitting down, running her hand through his hair, like their mom used to do. Izzy reminded him of her sometimes. “Mija you don’t have to take all of that on, you know that. You put way too much pressure on yourself, you have to look after you.”

He leaned into her hand, “I just want to be able to give us the best chance…”

They ate together, Jace must have been taking a late shift, and then Izzy left for work. Deciding to get an early night Alec stripped out of his uniform, and the playing card fell out of his back pocket. 

He picked it up and stared at it for a few minutes, flipping it over, looking at both sides. His name scrawled across one side, and the tidy phone number on the back. He tried to see if there was something peculiar about it, something that would make it obvious how Magnus had altered it, but he found nothing.

He’d never felt this way about a guy, not even a guy, just the thought of a guy he hadn’t met outside of a street performance. He’d had relationships sure, some got serious but most where just flings, short-term things. This had the potential to be something different, he could feel it.

He didn’t want to mess this up. Izzy always said he was an over thinker, but he always thought it was with good reason, but if he wanted something to really work he had to mix it up.

He thought of calling but that would have been mixing it up too much, nobody used their phones as phones anymore.

He laid down on his bed in his too small room and took his phone out, taking time to carefully type in the number at the top and checking three times until he knew it was correct. 

He typed out about a dozen different greetings that varied between cool and nonchalant, and cheery and flirty.

Sighing, Alec bit the bullet and typed out a short message.

‘Is this the Magnificent Magnus?’ 

He didn’t get a response within the first five seconds so naturally he panicked, and cursed at himself for being so stupid. He stuffed the phone under his pillow where he couldn’t look at or obsess over it. Of course that didn’t work.

He took a shower, taking time to get dressed and brushing his teeth, casually getting under his covers before breathing in and grabbing the phone. He calmly reached for it and flicked the screen on, the display showing a new text.

“Is this the amazing Alec? :)”

He blushed all the way down to his neck. There was no backing down now.

A: Haha yes it is. Glad you gave me your card haha. I’ve seen you perform a few times. You’re really good. I meant to come talk to you sometime…

M: That’s ok I’m sure you would have, I was just too anxious to get to talk to you! Not often I get a tall, dark and handsome officer of the law in my audience! It was a bit distracting ;)

Alec was totally done for.

*****

The next few days where a lot brighter than the last few. He and Magnus kept up an intermittent conversation over texts. He was always excited hearing his phone buzz in his pocket.

“Lightwood! Is there something more important going on than this meeting right now?” Alec jumped to attention embarrassed, after reading a flirty text from Magnus.

“No sir!”

“Good. We’ve had no activity from the burglars in any of the predicted businesses over the last two weeks but there has been some chatter of suspicious people entering and exiting buildings without buying or doing anything. This could be the ring surveying potential scenes, or it could be a bunch of red herrings attempting to throw us off the trail. Three stores have been targeted, we’ll be sending out surveillance teams to each one.

That’s how Alec and Jace ended up on a stakeout outside a jewellery store.

“Do you always have to think with your stomach?” Alec asked eyeing the giant pretzel Jace was holding covered in icing sugar.

“Tell me brother dearest, what do you eat in the mornings to get you through the day?”

“Protein shake.”

Jace made a big show of pretending to gag, “Some of us are human. It’s not my fault I have a magnificent metabolism.”

Alec’s phone buzzed as if on queue, the Magnificent Magnus had sent another text. He took the phone out casually, like he might have been checking the time.

M: What r u up to Amazing Alec?

Alec let out the smallest smirk possible but he already felt Jace’s intense stare burning into the side of his face.

A: Stake out w Jace.

M: Damn, a bit jealous I’m not stuck in a car with you right now.

Alec let out a snort. They hadn’t even met yet and Magnus was already laying it on thick. He didn’t mind at all it’s just he never knew how to respond. He was sure he’d shut down completely shut down if they were face to face.

“That’s it what is going on. You’ve been acting goofy all day, I don’t think you’ve been looking at kitten pictures on there. Come on give it!” Jace made a move to grab his phone and Alec acted on instinct elbowing him in the sternum knocking the wind out of him.

“Fine! Don’t tell me, I’ll find out eventually,” Jace coughed, “Hey look what just pulled up…”

Alec jolted as he saw the van with the same logo as the delivery service under surveillance. “Let’s go.”

They snuck up on the store, hands on their holsters, “I’ll take the back, don’t let them punch you in the balls this time,” Alec glared at his brother.

He snuck up on the entrance pushing the door open slowly, the aim was to quietly subdue. He watched as a figure in dark clothing hunched over the open front counter grabbing jewellery by the fist full. Two employees and a customer where positioned in the back corner presumably captured. He snuck up as close as he could, “Freeze police!” He shouted, and the figure jumped, hands immediately in the air. He heard a faint curse as the burglar in the mask turned to face him. 

Jace snuck in the back entrance, gun ready. “Take your mask off. Slowly.” The thief did as they were told. Underneath was a woman, dark hair tumbling down after being covered. Her eyes stared into him, dangerous like knives and she was smiling, like he was the one cornered and not her. 

*****

Alec trudged into their apartment later that night, exhausted. The day didn’t get any easier after the arrest. The woman in custody refused to talk, staring at all the officers with a terrifying sanguine smile, it was unsettling to all the officers except Lydia, their senior detective was unflappable and sat with her for hours in a stare down that could have brought the whole building to it’s knees. They found out the thief’s name was Camille Belcourt, but that’s because they already had her fingerprints in the system. 

She’d been pulled up on charges of shoplifting and identity fraud. She would have never had the resources to pull off a big job until now. They picked up the delivery van she’d been driving, stolen plates of course, no evidence in the back that could implicate her or link her to the larger theft ring. She was someone else’s problem now.

He checked his phone for the first time in hours and deflated even further when he saw there was no new text waiting for him. Should he do a dreaded double text, a quick hey, what are you up to? He thought that might have been too desperate so he went to heat up some dinner and take a shower. While he was towelling his hair his phone started ringing. It was Magnus.

He panicked, he wasn’t prepared for this. He remembered they hadn’t actually spoken a word to each other in a normal conversation. He’d let it ring too long, he had to answer.

“Hello…”

“Alec! How are you?” Magnus’ voice purred through the phone, sweet like honey, “I’ve been thinking eventually one of us would have to make the next step so I took initiative, I hope that’s okay.”

“Of course!” Alec smiled, “I’m glad to hear from you.”

“How did your stakeout go?”

Alec frowned before remembering he’d mentioned it earlier. Then he remembered Magnus’ reply and felt his face warm up. “Yeah good, my butt hurts from sitting down so long tho,” he covered his mouth after realising what he had just said and hoped Magnus hadn’t noticed, he heard a snicker on the other end of the line but the magician didn’t sound fazed.

“That sounds tough, better than getting yourself into danger I bet. I was wondering if you maybe wanted to hang out sometime soon…”

“Sure that sounds awesome!” was he being too eager? He hoped wasn’t coming off that way. “I have lunch free tomorrow if you want to go get a bite?”

“That sounds wonderful. I look forward too it!”

The earnest tone in the other mans voice made Alec’s stomach do kick flips. They organised a place to meet up and said a quick goodbye, as a loud knock came from his door. Izzy must be home. She didn’t bother waiting to be told to come in.

“Who are you talking to big brother?” she smirked expectantly at him with a raised eyebrow. 

“Um. Siri. I was asking Siri where the nearest Korean supermarket was. I have a hankering for some Kim chi,” Alec said deadpan, trying to tell her with his eyes he wasn’t ready to talk about it yet.

“Could it be the mysterious suitor Jace caught you sexting today? He said there was no way someone would smile at their phone like you have been unless they were getting dick pics.”

“We haven’t been sexting,” he squeaked, forgetting there wasn’t supposed to be a “we”.

“Ah hah, so there is someone! Spill who is it. Is he from the station? Is he a criminal?” she gasped, “is he from Grindr?”

Alec made a show of banging his phone against his head, like he was trying to beat out the memories of Izzy trying to find men on Grindr for him. “Ugh, Iz seriously I just want to see how this thing, if it even is a thing, turns out before we start gossiping.”

Izzy pouted, “fine. I’ll find out eventually.” As soon as she closed the door his phone buzzed.

*****

So for their first date Alec and Magnus decided to meet up for a casual lunch. Alec was incredibly grateful because restaurants, or any popper romantic setting made him incredibly anxious. He had a bit of a longer lunch break the next day, and Alec managed to shake off Jace, telling him he was going to a salad bar, which put Jace right off. He was getting really good at lying.

He tried to look as casual as he could in a police uniform, attempting to sink into the crowd as he waited anxiously for Magnus. Fifteen minutes went by and he started sweating. What if he got stood up? Maybe he’d built up what he and Magnus were doing too much. He had probably been getting too overzealous. His mind was put at ease, and he let out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding as Magnus emerged from amongst the pedestrians.

Magnus looked a lot more casual than he did when he was performing, he wasn’t decked out with all the glitter and colour. There were just small differences, like a looser, long fit shirt, less jewellery, no intricate patterns or hair products. He looked a lot softer, a quieter kind of beautiful, but there was still a grandness too him, he was still Magnus the Magnificent.

He sauntered up, scanning the street before seeing Alec and smiling brilliantly, “Alec! My don’t you look lovely!” Alec moved to shake Magnus’ hand but was instead caught in a hug that took the breath out of him. The other man smelled like jasmine and sandalwood. Magnus pulled a way a bit and seemed to appraise Alec, “Yep, just as handsome up close! Lucky me.” 

Alec felt his face heating up and his hands started to get clammy, who says stuff like that? To Magnus it sounded easy, with his relaxed body language and the sweet purr of his voice. Alec took the few seconds he could to take Magnus in the other man. He may have toned down his appearance but Magnus was still wearing makeup. There was something glossy on his lips, which were perfect in shape, and a perfect line of liner under his eyes, glittery silver. The makeup didn’t detract from his natural beauty, which was obvious.

“You look great too,” he said lamely, trying to convey with a look how much he meant it. “So, sandwiches huh?” They’d decided to meet up at a small sub sandwich shop.

“Yeah I thought it might be the easiest way to meet up before you go back to work. They sell an amazing crab bisque soup here. Plus,” Magnus added with what seemed like embarrassment, which sounded strange, “I’m on a tight budget. Magicians don’t rake up a lot of spare change, no matter how amazingly talented they are,” he finished with a flourish of his hands that made Alec smile.

“That’s okay, neither do rookie cops. It’s just nice to not have to eat lunch in the car with my brother. I get to eat with someone far more entertaining… and beautiful.”

Magnus seemed pleased, if not a bit taken aback at Alec’s flirting. “Oh well with me darling you get both in one, you get to witness as I shovel soup into my mouth and get it all over the place.” He smiled and there was a comfortable laugh between them.

“So your brother is your partner. That’s got to be rough.” They sat on a relatively secluded bench in a small park near the train station. There where a lot of dew on the leaves and flower bulbs. Alec sat and unwrapped his sandwich, he ordered as healthy as he could, salad and some fish. Magnus had a tub of orange soup, flecked with shells and spices; Alec’s nose started watering just being near it.

“My mama always said if it wasn’t hot enough to strip the flesh off a cow it was no good,” he happily shovelled a spoon of soup and crab into his mouth, “call me crazy.”

“Your not crazy” Alec said in awe and wiped his eyes again from the spice in the air. Magnus looked at him smugly. “It’s better than sitting in a car with a man scarfing down hotdogs and croissandwiches without stopping to swallow.”

Magnus chuckled, “What’s a croissandwich? He sounds like an utter villain,” he said jokingly.

“Don’t even ask. No Jace is the best; you couldn’t ask for a better brother he’s a really sweet guy and the best partner in the field. He’s quick and smart and he packs a wallop.”

“What a hero,” Magnus sounded genuinely impressed, “What about yourself? I’m sure you’re just as valiant. You certainty look the part,” he looked Alec up and down appraisingly, “you must pack quite the wallop yourself.”

Alec’s face heated up down to his neck, he’d was sure Magnus could see him fluster.

“I do okay. I might make detective soon if I can do a good job on the case we’re currently working on.”

“How exciting!”

“Yeah… You mentioned your mom before, are you really close with her?”

Magnus delicately put his spoon back into his soup. “Unfortunately she died quite some time ago.”

“I’m so sorry Magnus,” without thinking Alec reached out and placed his hand lightly on top of the other man’s. Oh shit, he’d never done anything so forward before, but he couldn’t have taken it away now that would have been mean.

Magnus didn’t pull his hand away either, instead he looked Alec dead in the eye with a strange expression, surprise probably, but also sadness and something else Alec couldn’t finger, like Magnus was searching for something.

“That’s more than alright.” 

The conversation flowed effortlessly between them. There was definitely a chemistry that Alec had never felt with any other man, he felt like he could be completely open, and he laughed more than he usually did.  
Magnus really was enchanting, you could see why crowds loved him, with his dramatic stances and animated hands. He wasn’t frantic at all, quite the opposite in fact, his energy ebbed and flowed through everything he did.

Every time they made physical contact, a touch of the hand, or a bump on the shoulder, Alec felt electricity spike through him, and his belly heated up.

They lost track of time pretty quickly, when Alec looked at his watch he saw that he had five minutes to get to the precinct, and Magnus had to get home, grab his gear and get to the station for his act.

“I’m a little low for rent this month, I have to put on a good show or I’ll be in trouble,” he winked at Alec.

A moment passed between them in the air, should Alec kiss him? It had to be too soon. Still he couldn’t help but be drawn to those glossy lips…

A loud car horn honked near them making Alec jump to attention. Magnus didn’t move, he just looked curiously as Alec and Jace’s car rolled up to the sidewalk.

His brother actually blared the siren a little bit before calling out on the megaphone.

“Will the very late police officer and the mysterious stranger please step slowly towards the vehicle? Fail to comply will result in embarrassing hooting noises.”

Alec sighed. “Jace?” Magnus asked with a smirk.

“Yeah he’s a real charmer, he’s right though I better get back to the precinct. Catch some bad guys,” he said lamely with no conviction. He was too busy looking at Magnus’ face, his beautiful dark eyes, and his glossy lips. It would be so easy to lean in and just-

Jace started making noises like he was on Jerry springer and Alec sighed. “Next time,” Magnus whispered with a wink, “Parting is such sweet sorrow. “ Alec grinned goofily before turning on his heels towards the car.

“You are such a fuck ass!” he yelled slamming his door shut.

“Who was THAT.” Jace’s face was almost splitting open with glee. “Has young Alec finally opened the key to the chastity belt? Is that why you’ve been acting so goofy? He looks like the ring master at Cirque du Soleil.”

Alec sighed and bit the bullet. “We met a few times before we started texting. That was our first date. I really like him and don’t need you getting involved, so please don’t tell Izzy yet.”

“That’s great man, I’m genuinely glad you’re happy for once. I hope it all goes really well. And I promise I won’t tell Izzy.”

*****

Jace told Izzy later that night while they were eating KFC.  
“They were so cute, like high schoolers meeting before class. Never seen Alec be such a smitten kitten.”

Izzy , the consummate professional, was in the kitchen putting her earrings in and fixing up her dress for a date with coworker, Simon from the bar. “Oh my god Alec tell me everything where did you meet, did your eyes meet across a crowded room, oh! Did you save him from a robber, was he the damsel in distress?”

Alec had trouble believing Magnus could ever be the damsel in distress with his strong shoulders and lean back- he was getting side tracked. He didn’t want to tell them they’d met at a street performance, or that Magnus was a Magician. He wasn’t ashamed at all, it was just his siblings were childish and would freak out.

“Look it’s just new you know, it’s a lot to get used to so I’d rather not spew everything out to you guys. I don’t know I just really like him…”

Izzy stepped into the livin room, her dress blinding and shiny, and short. She definitely didn’t look like she belonged in their crappy apartment, her platforms digging into the stained, brown carpet.

“I’m so happy for you, I know this is going to work out for you.” She pinched his cheek, and turned for the door, “Love you, I’ll be home late!”

*****

Unfortunately Alec and Magnus didn’t get a chance to meet up for a week or so, with Alec’s work load. They were catching more and more of the drivers and thieves from the moving company.

“There are way too many perps.” Luke looked at the holding cell, and the list of thieves that had been moved to other facilities, the list was pretty long. Each one remained staunch under interrogation, they had gotten absolutely nowhere. 

As Jace and Alec got into their car one night Alec’s phone rang, ‘Magnus’.

Alec smiled, he hadn’t talked to Magnus at all that day, but he was afraid of Jace embarrassing him. Still, he answered the phone, “Hey!”

“Alexander,” Magnus purred, Alec thought he would have regretted telling him what Alec was short for but he liked the way his full name sounded coming from Magnus. “I’ve missed hearing your voice, I was wondering if you’d like to attend a small party I’m having tonight, just a relaxed get together with some people I know …” his voice trailed off expectantly, with a nervous hope.

Alec relaxed into his car seat, seeing Magnus would be amazing, but he didn’t really like hanging around lots of people.

“You can bring your charming siblings if you want so you don’t feel alone. I understand your sister knows my old friend Raphael.”

“Izzy?”

Jace was an incomparable snoop and had been straining to hear Magnus’ side of the conversation, “Tell him we’ll come,” he whispered really loudly near the ear peace.

Alec smacked him in the forehead sighing, “Sure that sounds fun, looking forward to it.”

After hanging up he looked at Jace wide eyed.

“Oh my god. Why did I do that, why did I say yes? I can’t do parties, YOU definitely can’t do parties, Izzy can but oh my god I’m gonna fuck up, what am I supposed to wear? I-“ Jace slapped him mid sentence.

“Alec stop. You like this guy. You said this was different right? Special. so I bet doing this for Magnus – What kind of a name is that- will be great, and me and Izzy are going to be there so there’s no pressure.”

Alec touched his face where Jace had slapped him, a little miffed, but nodded. It was another smart second meet up. Not a real date, but they could talk, flirt a little. Lot’s of people so there was no pressure to get too physical. It was good.

But that didn’t stop him freaking out the whole time. Izzy squealed with anticipation when they told her.

“He said Raphael was going to be there.”

“Ooh, better pick out something juicy to wear,” she smirked.

“Oh, did things not work out with Simon, are you two not together anymore?” Jace frowned.

“No it did, and we are,” she winked, heading towards to her closet. The boys looked at it each other and shrugged.

Alec had asked just how formal the party was, and got a less than ideal response, he didn’t have anything remotely fancy to wear.

Izzy dragged them to a small men’s clothing store that sold more ritzy items and made them do a fashion parade for her. Jace was happy with the dark red jacket she picked out. Alec on the other hand was a different story.

“Iz, black is fine, black works for me.”

“Black may work, but it doesn’t work hard enough, you need something to wow the crowd, not just Magnus, that way all his friends will tell him how amazing his new man is.

They fought for another twenty minutes before Izzy picked out something truly offensive.

“I am NOT wearing a pink jacket,” he flinched away from the offending item like it was made of maggots.

“First of all, it’s not pink, it’s a muted salmon. It is everywhere at the moment, shirts, hoodies, hats, all real men wear pink. Second, Magnus will be so impressed by your sense of style and bravery he’ll want to rip all your clothes off anyway.”

Alec bought the jacket, in no way influenced by his sister’s last insinuation. She then spent an hour on his hair, and then they where off.

*****

Magnus lived on a high floor of an old apartment complex in one of the nicer neighbourhoods in the city, but it still wasn’t perfect. The trio stopped in front of the door.

“This was a bad idea, maybe we shouldn’t have…” Izzy cut him off by rapping on the door.

There was a long wait before the door swung open. 

“Lightwoods!” Magnus beamed.

Alec grinned in a way he’d discovered was reserved for the magician, He surged forward in what was sort of an awkward, embrace/hug/back pat. “Hey Magnus,.”

“Hello Alexander,” Alec saw Jace mouth the word, ‘Alexander’ quizzically, before moving forward to shake Magnus’ hand.

“Hey, I’m Jace.”

Izzy lunged forward and crushed Magnus in a hug, “Hi, I’m Isabelle,” she then proceeded to walk into Magnus’ apartment without prompting. “I love your apartment!” she gushed.

Alec turned to look and was similarly impressed. It was obvious from the little things that it wasn’t furbished any better than the rest of the apartments in the city, with the poor rendering and old fittings, but how Magnus decorated made it look like it was worth a million dollars.

His furniture taste was minimalist, dark tones with pops of colour, comfortable and homely. His couch, compared to their lumpy old two seater, looked plush and comfortable, draped in throws and cushions and ottomans. There were exotic curtains and fabrics dressing the room, and there was a massive book case covering one wall filled with tombs and old novels. It was a home.

It was also void of party guests.

“Are we early?” Jace asked.

“Just a tad, the rest should be a long in a few moments.” Alec felt immediately embarrassed, he must look like an over eager idiot.

“Isabelle Raphael is already actually here,” as if on queue the man manifested from another room. Alec had never met him before but he looked shady.

“Raph!” Izzy rushed over and wrapped her arms around him.”

“And uh if you wanted to get in early on some appetizers the theme is “A Night in Indonesia,” so there are some risoles and satay skewers over there…”

Jace immediately made a beeline for the table with the food, greedily a plate high, and leaving Magnus and Alec alone.

“I’m glad you got here a little early, gives us a chance to be alone for a second,” Alec was sure his face was going as pink as his jacket. “You look incredible, very dashing, a wonderful change from that imposing uniform.” Magnus was giving Alec several once-overs, looking at every detail.

Alec realised just how amazing Magnus looked himself. His emerald suit, patterned with fine golden dragon patterns was blinding. Rings and neck covered in jewellery with every kind of stone and hair covered in more glitter than Alec had ever seen. 

His face was ethereal, his skin smooth and highlighted, lips as glossy as every, eyelids dashed with gold. He was beautiful.

“You look beautiful…” 

Magnus seemed to preen at the word choice, and offered him a drink, some spicy tonic thing. 

“I’m just glad I had the chance to see you again. I missed you a little bit,” Magnus looked at him shyly.

Alec felt butterflies at that look, an innocent yearning that he was mirroring himself, he just didn’t know it.

Alec looked round a bit at all the party decorations, and the food table where Jace was still stuffing his face. “So, Indonesian huh?” 

“Yes” the magician took a sweeping look around the room, “ I was born there, I remember it well as a boy. I wanted to share that with my friends.” Alec wanted to learn all about his time in Indonesia, or his childhood, or anything really, but more party guests began to arrive and Magnus led to his hosting duties, Alec melted into the crowd a little to where his siblings were.

“Your boy’s got good tastes bro this shit is delicious,” Jace exclaimed as he shoved another risole in his mouth.

“He’s not really my boy, I mean we’ve only been on one date.”

“Oh he digs you, hard core” Jace replied with his mouth open, “he couldn’t keep his eyes off of you. Look he’s even peeping at you right now, talking to Izzy and that bouncer dude.” Alec glanced over, caught Magnus’ gaze and looked away again quickly.

“Yeah who is that guy,” he changed the subject, “she should have stayed with that Simon guy I heard he was pretty tame.”

“I think she’s seeing both of them… Look out here they come.” 

Izzy and Raphael moved towards them, the man looked smug and Alec thought he looked a little familiar.

“Magnus is great Alec! The perfect match for an emotionally constipated, hypo masculine dork like you!” Izzy gushed.

“Yes I’ve known Magnus for a long time, he seems to be quite taken with you. Excuse me,” Raphael disappeared into the crowd to talk to another guest.

“Who the hell is that guy Iz?” Jace asked, “He’s seedy as fuck. I’d hate run into him in a nightclub…” Alec definitely agreed, he wondered how Magnus knew him.

“Alec how is this place so nice? The building is shittier than ours but his apartment is the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen, seriously snatch this guy up and move in. How does he afford it all, you never told us what his job was?”

Alec couldn’t really answer the first question, but Magnus answered the second one with an announcement. “Ladies and gents! You all know it wouldn’t be a Magnus Bane party with an appearance from Magnus the Magnificent!” the crowd clapped, presumably they all knew they were about to see some magic, and Alec clapped and smiled too, not expecting any show tonight.

Isabelle was ecstatic, and Jace was excited, if not a bit apprehensive as Magnus started doing coin tricks with a beautiful gold coin, making it disappear and reappear in the audience’s hands, multiplying it, hiding it and finding it at dizzying speeds. 

“You never said he knew magic,” Izzy whispered.

“It’s kind of his job. He’s a street performer,” Alec prepared for judging looks from his siblings but got none, they seemed pretty pleased by this new revelation. 

As the show died down and the audience relaxed, Magnus casually wandered over to them.

“Did you enjoy the performance?”

“Absolutely!” Izzy bounced on her heals, “you were amazing.

Magnus lightly took Alec by the wrist, surprising him, and opened his fingers, placing the coin from the performance in his hand.

“Stick around for a bit?” he asked, and Alec nodded.

“You are so getting laid,”

“The pink suit totally worked,” Jace and Izzy spoke in unison.

So as the party moved along and the guests began to leave Alec moved towards the end of the room near the kitchen. His siblings left with a hug and a wink and he sat at one of the stools.

Something rubbed against his ankle and he jumped. Looking down he saw it was the cat from one of Magnus’ shows, Chairman Meow.

“Hello,” Alec blinked down at the cat. He had no experience with animals but it seemed to take a liking to him, rubbing its head against his leg.  
He sank to the floor to pet it and it started purring.

“God he’s such a traitor he’s never loved me like that,” Magnus laughed as he entered.

“He seemed to trust you when you were performing?”

“He just likes the attention. Did you enjoy the party?”

Alec turned to face him, and realised the magician was standing pretty close. He sucked in a breath and smelled Magnus’ cologne in air, it was light and flowery.

“It was amazing,” Alec’s senses were flooded a little bit as he stared absently at the dragons on Magnus’ suit, “I don’t get out much, that probably the most people I’ve seen outside of a jail cell in a long time,” he laughed nervously at his own corny joke but was validated when Magnus smiled too.

He went to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of sparkling water, offering a cup to Alec, “The drinks were pretty strong, you should get some fluids in you. The scandal of having a gorgeous officer traipsing around my loft, the neighbours might think I was taking advantage.”

Alec wasn’t drunk in the slightest, having passed up the drinks offered to him, but he quickly took the water from Magnus because his mouth had suddenly become very dry. Where did they go from here? Was he supposed to make a move? Was Magnus gonna rip his clothes off like Izzy had said? The other man soothed his worries, like he could read Alec’s mind.

“It’s okay Alexander, I hoped you hanging behind the others would give us another chance to talk, I wasn’t planning on luring you into my lair. I think getting to know the soul of a person is paramount. The physical stuff just comes naturally afterward.”

Alec was flummoxed. He’d never heard a guy talk like that before, thinking brain first instead of dick. After blind dates, meet cutes and even dating apps the guys Alec usually connected with had one-track minds. He knew himself, and that other people saw him as attractive, but it would have been nice to have someone take the tiniest bit of effort to get to know him first. That Magnus wanted to do this, though it was important even, excited him. A huge weight lifted off his chest knowing that the chemistry they had more too it.

He was still, however, able to appreciate the newly revealed shoulder and arm muscles under Magnus’ shirt, after he’d taken his suit jacket off. Alec had a daft thought; Magnificent Magnus’ Marvellous Muscles. He shook the absurdity out of his head and chose instead to take in the view of the apartment. 

“Your place is amazing, you probably have one of the nicest places in the city,” he hoped that came across as complimentary.

Magnus smiled and moved casually to the blue couch in the middle of the living space, “If you take away my impeccable tastes for interior design, it’s actually just as shitty. It’s just big is all.”

“How do y-“ he caught the question before it fully left his lips. How did Magnus afford this place as a street performer, and live so luxuriously. He closed his mouth and pretended to inspect the bookshelf.

Magnus answered anyway, probably having heard the question a thousand times, “Inheritance mostly. When my mother passed she said to me, ‘I don’t want you to struggle, I want you to live your dreams.’ And so I go out almost every day and do just that. I earn just enough in coins and donations for food and bills each month, but have a nest egg from mother when I’m in a pinch. One day I hope to repay her kindness and become the greatness in the world she wanted me to be. Then I could really save, give some of the money to those following their dreams too.”

The magician was looking wistfully at nothing. He had been talking like all of this was just a fever dream. There was innocence and vulnerability that Alec had never heard in Magnus’ voice. He found himself slowly shuffling towards the other man and then suddenly he was sitting on the other side of the same couch, their sudden closeness warming him up inside.

“I look forward to that day,” Alec said sincerely, conveying he knew Magnus could do it. He didn’t know where his sudden surge in confidence came from, with their proximity and the ease in his speech. It’s like Magnus sucked away some of his anxiety. ”I’ve seen your act, you’re so good! You can do all those things you just said.”

Magnus looked at him in shock, before flashing another beautiful smile and laughing, “Are you sure it wasn’t my beauty and charm, my magnetic sexuality that made my show so appealing” he purred and made a big show of it.

Alec laughed, loud and hard, tonight really was full of firsts, “That might have been part of it,” he winked. “It could be though, the most amazing magician in the world would be nothing without showmanship. You definitely have that.”

He swore he could se Magnus’ cheeks pink up a little bit, and he was suddenly very aware of how close they’d gotten during their conversation, their faces only a few inches apart. Oh no, should Alec go in for the kiss? Would that have been taking advantage? While he was mentally asking himself those questions their lips had met in the middle without him realising.

His breath hitched, and they were a few still moments before they both melted into it and sweetened it. They pulled apart; Alec’s pupils were blown.

“See?” Magnus let out a shuddered breath; “It comes naturally,” before leaning forward and kissing him again, really softly.

*****

Alec crept out of his bedroom the morning after, hoping not to wake up and catch the attention of his nosy siblings who would undoubtedly grill him about what had happened the night before, hopefully they were too tired or hung over. Instead of finding Jace or Izzy in the kitchen however, he found a startled looking man in glasses he’d never seen before eating their Cheerios.

“Aah!” Alec screeched, going into police defence mode, grabbing a wooden spoon off the counter, it still had spaghetti sauce on it. “Who the fuck are you?”

The man put his hands up, meaning he dropped their bowl, full of his Cheerios on the ground. “I’m Simon! Simon, Izzy’s… friend,” he seemed confused at the label. So Izzy was fooling around with two guys? That wasn’t like her. This guy looked a little bit less douchey than Raphael at least.

Alec slowly put the spoon down, and Izzy came barrelling out of her room, looking frantically between the two men, “Alec, hey good morning how are you? Simon it looks like you found the cereal.”

Simon looked like a deer in headlights, looking down at the cereal and milk on the ground, crouching down frantically picking up the bowl, and trying to mop up some of the cereal with his hand, stuttering and apologising.

“Simon, that’s fine you can leave that, maybe go and get ready for the managers meeting you guys have later?” and Simon did just that, scurrying away avoiding eye contact with Alec. 

“So,” Alec moved to grab a mop from one of their cupboards, “Simon and Raphael are nice.”

Izzy sighed, “Yes Alec, not that it’s any of your business, I’m seeing both of them. But they’re also seeing each other. The three of us, we’re kind of a thing,” she looked at him like she was daring him to shame her. He was confused more than anything.

“That’s… Nice?” Izzy was a very open minded, open hearted woman, it kind of made sense that she would end up in a set up like this.

“Damn right it is the bigger story is YOU, how did everything turn out with Magnus after everybody left?” she leaned on the counter and watched him mop up the cereal. He kept his head down feeling his face flush.

“It was fine. Good. He’s a very nice… good guy,” he finished lamely.

“Alexander Gideon Lightwood,” she said sternly sounding just like their mother, he hated that tone, “tell me what happened right now or I will walk down to that train station and ask Magnus myself, that’s right I know where he performs and you know he’d spill everything.”

He sighed; Alec always had trouble opening up, even to Izzy, the person he was closest to in the whole world. “Would it help if I said I approved?” she continued, knowing he’d spill the beans if he weren’t getting judged. “I think he’s perfect for you. He’s gorgeous, he’s smart, and he’s sweet. And he totally digs you, he told me so.”

Alec looked at her like a dog looks at a human with a treat, “Really?” he asked, and she nodded. He had to keep a straight face and stop himself from smiling, “Okay well nothing crazy happened, you know we didn’t have… you know. We talked for a while, and it was really nice. Then we sort of just kissed. For a long time.” he put the mop down and looked at her waiting for a response, she was looking at him, wide eyed with a crazed grin on her face.

“Alec! That’s so sweet, you’re seeing each other again right?”

“Well I hope so,” he smirked, as if by real magic he felt his phone buzz in the pocket of his sweat pants, but he didn’t immediately go to answer it. “What happened to Jace?”

She banged her hands on the counter, “Oh my god yes! So during the party he started talking to this beautiful red head-“

“Clary?”

“Yeah. How did you know that?” she frowned.

“She’s an artist, down near the station she does portraits.”

“Oh, well they disappeared together, I never saw them as me and Raph left.”

Alec cringed, another innocent girl subject to Jace and his gross charm. He was probably going to hear all about it on their ride to work.

*****

Jace was actually surprisingly merciful when it came to the details; they agreed that mutual silence in regards to the party was the best option. 

“You know Clary and Magnus are probably telling each other everything right now.”

“Yeah,” Alec sighed as they sat down at their desks opposite each other in the precinct. Alec’s desk was full of paperwork for new suspects being sent to the city jail.

“Why even bother writing those up, every suspect we bring in get’s out on bail and get’s off with the aid of this crooked lawyer that’s representing them all.”

“Is that not suspicious to anyone? Are we allowed to run background checks on lawyers?” Alec asked but Jace just shrugged.

“That Belcourt woman has given us some useful information,” Jace offered.

“Yeah but it’s led us nowhere.”

“Right. Speaking of scary women, Maryse called me this morning for her monthly check in, cold as ever.” Jace swung back in his chair.

“Mom?” Alec hated when Jace called their mother by her full name. Maryse Lightwood was a strong, confident, fiercely intelligent woman, who in her ambition and pride managed to alienate and piss off all of her children. Their father had no say when she hastily shunned them so he left their lives as well. But recently she had taken to calling her children on and off, asking how they were doing, snooping into their lives. The first time she’d called Alec had nearly had a heart attack. He still loved his mother dearly but he could never shake the memory of what she had said to them.

From when they where young Maryse had raised her children with strict values of discipline, honour, and the value of family. Jace and Alec had gone to military school, Izzy to an all-girls academy. They were signed up to every sport or extra curricular imaginable, and then paraded around like trophies for their parents friends for their accomplishments.

When one of them stepped even slightly out of line they were met with a stern word, so when they grew older, their own interests blooming it became harder to rein her children in. They all began dating and socialising, and after she caught Izzy and Alec sneaking boys into their house after a party she snapped.

“Lightwoods don’t behave like this,” she’d gone on a tirade about their ungratefulness and tasteless behaviour. When they talked back, Izzy and Jace being particularly vocal, she’d shunned them, shocking all three of them.

They had to figure out quickly what to do with themselves, only having part time jobs they moved to a less reputable city, and found the best apartment they could on a budget. Eventually they raised enough for the boys to join the academy.

“What did you say to her?” Alec started chewing on his pen nervously.

“I told her we were living in a cardboard box, and I was in a gang, and you were dating a street performer and Izzy is in a throuple with two random losers from the dingy bar she’s working in,” He drawled sarcastically.

“Don’t talk about Magnus like that,” he knew it was a joke but he was still strangely protective for a person who’d only been on one-and-a-half official dates. “What the fuck is a throuple?”

Jace raised his hands in mock surrender before spinning once on his chair, “Sorry man. A throuple. You know a three way couple. That’s what the three of them are I think. I mean I don’t think they’re just fooling around.”

“How do you know this?” Alec asked, kind of miffed Jace knew al this before he did.

“Relax, she told me while you were making out with Chris Angel Mindfreak,” Alec hucked his pen at him, “Anyway I told Maryse we were fine, laid it on real thick how good we were doing without them, and then, as politely as I could, told her to fuck off.”

Alec was a little bit dismayed at this, he really did hope for reconciliation with their parents down the line, but he understood Jace’s anger.

Alec’s phone buzzed for the tenth time that day, and he picked it up. He smiled, Magnus was here to go to dinner.

“God is this smiley goofy puppy dog thing ever going to end? It’s kind of gross.” Jace’s face was contorted into an expression of disgust.

Alec hadn’t realised he’d been smiling, “You’re telling me your not excited to see Clary tonight? Your gonna lay the charm on real thick,” going on a double date with his brother wasn’t exactly his choice of fun ideas, but Magnus had suggested it, and they where gonna head back to Alec’s house together, both of his siblings planning on being out of the house. He was nervous having someone as beautiful as Magnus in his very unbeautiful house, and oh god what were they going to do?

Right on queue Magnus stepped into the police station, Clary in tow, but Alec barely registered her, because Magnus looked different.

He was wearing a tank top, “THE BIBLE SAID ADAM AND EVE SO I DID BOTH,” his bare arms poking out. Looking at those arms short-circuited Alec’s brain, because they where tan and perfectly muscular. His hair looked softer, his eyes shadow a simple smoky eye. He was the epitome of 90’s counter culture, right down to the lace up combat boots. Magnus always looked incredible, but now he looked like the sexy bad boy every gay man craved. Clary saw Alec’s stare and mouthed, “You’re welcome.” Alec definitely liked her.

A detective stepped forward toward Magnus, “Hello, can I help you? Are you here to make a statement?” Magnus squinted distastefully at the officer for the implication and Alec bolted forward to greet him.

“Magnus! You didn’t have to come in and get us we were just finishing up, you look…” He took Magnus in again, god damn it those arms.

Magnus smirked smugly, “We didn’t want to rush you so we thought we’d meet you in here,” Clary was skipping over to Jace, Alec didn’t turn to look at what they were doing.

“Okay cool, well we gotta head to ours first to change, you guys want a lift?”

“That would be divine.”

*****

So they rode in Jace’s car, which wasn’t the best, back to their apartment. Jace, Magnus and Clary started animated conversations on the way, about work and Magnus’ act and Clary’s art, which Jace made a huge fuss over (“Oh man it sound’s so good I gotta see it.) Alec stayed generally quiet, inserting occasionally while he sat in the back seats with Magnus. The magician didn’t seem to mind Alec’s quiet. He had a gutt feeling Magnus just knew how awkward he became in group in conversations, how he just liked to listen. Alec appreciated that, preferring to sit back, arms flush with Magnus’ due to the lack of room, he didn’t mind at all. He could feel the heat and scent from Magnus’ bare shoulder. They even held hands.

“Here we are, do you guys just wanna wait while we make ourselves presentable, Izzy is probably home if you wanna talk to her,” Jace offered.

“As wonderful as this little car is I’d like to talk to Isabelle if that’s okay?” Magnus said dryly. “What do you think biscuit?”

“Yes I’d love to meet her!” Clary chirped.

Upstairs they all entered their small apartment, crammed in like tuna in a can, neither of their guests made any comment on their living arrangements. Izzy emerged from her room looking beautiful as ever, lips a strange orange colour that suited her, her hair pinned up by two chopsticks. “Magnus! And you must be Clary, come in come in, I have a while before I go out and meet the boys.”

“Eh Izzy before that can you help me I need to talk to you about… renovating the house.” Alec said awkwardly, hoping she’d catch the drift and come with him.

When they were in his bedroom, door shut, he let out a lot of the panic he’d felt since Magnus had entered the precinct, “What the fuck do I wear?”

Izzy let out a snort, “Completely incompetent, wear you’re normal clothes. You know when you’re not working the whole black is best thing you have going on, seriously you need better clothes.”

“Won’t that seem a bit… Sloppy?”

“No, if you’re comfortable in what you wear, it will show on the outside and that’s what he’ll be attracted to. Trust me.”

So he did, grabbing the clothes he would usually wear out when he wasn’t trying to impress, then stepping into the living room.

Magnus grinned, “Ah yes there he is, the real Alec lightwood in the flesh.” Alec smiled goofily at the compliment and they left.

The four of them decided to head to a rooftop bar. It was casual, there was some good music, and drinks. Best of all there was a fantastic view of the city and the stars.

“I love this place,” said Clary, “So Alec, I don’t know you very well apart from you’re a cop. Tell me about yourself!”

Alec panicked, hating being put on the spot like this. Clary was very nice and she had the best intentions but there wasn’t a lot about his life he’d feel comfortable telling her about.

Just then Magnus and Jace returned from playing a quick round of darts, Magnus won, and crashed into the seats next to them, “I can tell you anything you want to know about him babe. He’s a sweet guy, many talents including being a strong, burly cop,” he was laying it on for Magnus’ benefit, “He likes reading. Actually, right now he’s reading Harry Potter!” Jace looked at Alec cheekily.

“Oh my god,” Alec dropped his head into his hands.

“Harry potter huh?” Magnus was desperately trying to hide a smirk.

“Yeah I guess he has a thing for magic men-“ Alec quickly leaned over and punched Jace none to lightly on the shoulder.

The night turned out to be pretty fun, with some casual conversation where they all got to know each other, played darts, danced lamely on a small dance floor. Eventually Magnus and Alec had another chance to talk alone.

“How’s your act working out?” Alec asked as they looked out upon the view of the city.

“It’s good, really good actually. Earning a decent amount, moving around the city. I’m actually building a bit of a name for myself. Word of mouth has sent a bigger audience my way, started doing night shows. Clary helps out from time to time.

“That’s amazing!” Alec beamed, “See I told you, you’re gonna make it big, Magnus the Magnificent.” He said bumping their shoulders together.

Magnus looked away bashfully, “Thank you Alexander. What about you, how’s police work? I know you can’t talk about cases but in general, do you enjoy it?”

Alec thought for a second. Did he? He didn’t NOT enjoy it. “It’s always eventful,” he offered which was kind of a lie so he conceded, “I mean there’s a lot of paperwork, which I don’t mind so much because it makes sense to me you know? I like the organisation and the method.”

“Wow that sounds wild.”

“Hey,” Alec defended himself jokingly, “I’ll have you know earlier this month I was in a very cool high speed chase. Like a car chase you see in movies, and then I nearly had to do some parkoar to catch the guy you would have been impressed.”

Magnus nodded, genuinely impressed. “Did you catch the guy?”

Alec hesitated, “I did, for a few seconds… before he kneed me in the nuts and ran away.”

There was a pause and Magnus started laughing, Alec followed suit because it really was absurd.

When the laughter died down, Magnus looked at him earnestly, “Seriously though, don’t you socialise? Have a hobby? There must be someway for you to unwind, a life away from work? You’re a policeman because you want to make it easier for people to live freely. What about you?”

Alec looked out across the city and shrugged. He did things before they moved out, stupid rebellious youth things with men he never cared about.

“Look, the night is still young, and this isn’t exactly the wildest place, maybe we can go somewhere else before we head back to your place?”

Alec had never bar hopped before, but he wanted to spend as much time with Magnus as he could, so he agreed, and they left Jace and Clary, taking an Uber to their next destination. The driver was a round, middle-aged woman who said they made a cute couple. Both men said, “Thank you,” in unison, Alec realising this was the first time he’d considered them a couple.

They ended up at, of all places, Izzy’s club. It was peak hour for dancing and drinking, which freaked Alec out a bit but also thrilled him, knowing he was here with Magnus.

They headed over to the bar; knowing Izzy and her boyfriends weren’t working tonight.

“Caterina my dear, how are you?” Magnus 

“Ooh I’m all the better now that you’re here my friend, tonight’s been kind of boring and gross. Who’s your friend? He’s hot.”

Alec’s belly jumped, “He is isn’t he? This is Alec. He’s trying to sow his wild oats.”

“Are you the wild oats?” she smirked, “What will you have?”

“I will have a whiskey and Alec will have…?”

“Margarita please,” they both looked shocked. That was his poison of choice back in the day. Tequila made him confident and want to dance.”

“Wow wild child.” Caterina smirked and made their drinks, Magnus looked suitably impressed.

He sipped on his drink and it went down like fire. “Come on,” Magnus said after a while, letting the drinks settle inn, “dance with me.” 

“I don’t know how?”

“I’ll show you,” Magnus took him firmly by the wrist, sending electric shocks through Alec’s body, and led them to a relatively clear spot on the fringe of the busy dance floor. “Okay give me a little taste of what you can do.”

Alec bit his lip shyly before doing a weird sort of shuffle, moving his arms like he was jogging. Magnus watching him appraisingly, he felt like an idiot.

“For a cop you’re not very coordinated, okay come here,” he came into Alec’s space, close enough that Alec could feel the heat coming off of him. Magnus touched his hips lightly and rotated them a bit so Alec loosened up, moving his but a bit. “Okay there’s more than just arms and legs you gotta move you’re hips as well, and then sort of let your shoulders relax, and,” he demonstrated a kind of twerk, grinding hybrid, moving Alecs hips in time.

It was almost too much. Alec put his arms on Magnus’ shoulders, and then on a reflex pulled him closer a bit. His body began to loosen, mimicking Magnus’ and it felt good, he felt kind of… sexy when he was doing it. He didn’t notice but they were pulling each other closer to the beat and eventually their bodies were almost flush and they where grinding together. In the flashing light he could see Magnus looking at him, pupils dilated a bit, Alec was pretty sure he was looking at Magnus in the same way.

Suddenly it was all too overwhelming and he had to act, leaning in and he crashed their mouths together, hot and dirty, almost fighting each other with their lips. They were at it for a while, breaths heaving and hitching, totally caught in the moment, before slowing down, savouring it, one last peck. They leaned their foreheads together, puffing. They didn’t have to say anything.

A while went by, their dancing had slowed to a gentle sway.

“Need a break?” Magnus asked.

“I have to pee.”

The left the dance floor hand in hand, and Magnus went back to the bar, while Alec moved to the bathroom, because tequila was havoc on the bladder.

He waited in the dirty stall after he was done, frowning he pulled his phone out of his pocket, and opened a message box with Izzy.

A: I think I’m about to have sex.

As he waited for a response he thought. He wasn’t scared, he trusted Magnus, and it was definitely something he wanted. His phone buzzed.

Izzy had sent the eggplant emoji, along with suggestive facial emojis, before a second message.

I: Yaasss finally, go get it!

That settled it. He left the bathroom and headed back to where Magnus was talking to the bartender. He overheard some of their conversation, “I don’t know. I think this one is special. It just feels different, I’m crazy over him.”

Caterina barked out a laugh, “I think it’s mutual I saw the way he was looking at you, like you were the moon in the sky. Oop look out here he comes.”

Alec pretended he never heard what they were saying, giddy over Magnus admitting how much he like him. Magnus turned around and looked at him with a smile, “ready to go?”

“Definitely,” he said without hesitation.

****

Alec’s apartment was small but it suddenly felt a lot smaller once he and Magnus arrived home, and it wasn’t just because he was tipsy and kept bumping into things. They did a clumsy sort of dance around the apartment, striping off various articles of clothing while trying to maintain contact with their lips, Magnus was uncharacteristically graceless as he grabbed Alec by the back of the neck and worried at the policeman’s lip with his teeth, Alec’s whole body reacting with every peck and every slip of the hand. 

They slammed his bedroom door open a little louder than they intended but no one was home so it didn’t matter. Magnus led him forward until Alec’s legs hit the foot of his bed and fell backwards, the magician falling on top of him. They didn’t slow down for even a second, Alec was grabbing at every part of Magnus he could find, his muscles, his back, his ass. It was a slightly awkward encounter, as is often the case with a new person, but that just made it even sweeter. 

Magnus paused as Alec pulled his shirt off to look at the tattoo over the policsemans chest, just below the neck, low enough you couldn’t see it with a shirt on. He traced the lines of the Z shape, Alec’s skin tingled where his thumb graze over the skin. 

It was just a weird symbol Alec remembered from an old fantasy book, it was supposed to protect a hero in the middle of a battle. He was drunk and cocky when he got it, a rookie who thought he was superman. It felt special the way Magnus was looking at it.

The magician smelled like a flowery perfume Alec couldn’t identify, and it flooded his senses. He had to move things along or he was going to explode.

There was a brief discussion of who would play what role and then everything moved really fast, and then really slow, and then really fast again. Magnus was incredibly powerful, like a big cat, lithe and skilled, he’d take the lead for a while, and then would relinquish control to Alec for a bit, in a kind of sexy dance that made them both dizzy.

They finished in unison and flopped down on the bed, Alec clinging to Magnus like a sloth, like he usually did after sex but Magnus didn’t seem to care. 

“I don’t have work tomorrow, you wanna hang out? I make good blueberry pancakes…” Alec felt kind of vulnerable and clingy as he was saying it but hanging out with Magnus that night was the most fun he’d had in a very long time, and he knew he’d feel kind of sad if they had to wait again to see each other.

Magnus looked at him with a small smile, his eyeliner smudged all over his cheeks. He turned to face his body moor towards Alec, and wrapped an arm around his waist so they were in a sort of comfortable half hug. ”Sure, that sounds wonderful,” he moved his head so they could kiss lightly, and Alec sighed into it. 

*****

“Banana smoothies?” Alec frowned sitting at a chair by the counter as Magnus rummaged the cupboards for cups.

“You didn’t have any ingredients for a prairie oyster so I thought this was the next best thing. Plus your bananas were going over ripe,” Alec’s heart ached at the domesticity of it all.

“Yeah they don’t get eaten a lot. Jace isn’t really a fruit guy and Izzy prefers coffee.”

“Charming! So what did you want to get up to today?”  
They made plans to go out, maybe to a park or a walk or something, but their plans sort of flew out the window. After drinking their smoothies they found they had a new surge of energy, and after catching each others eyes and smirking they ended up heading back to bed where some naked play wrestling, (Why was Magnus so strong?) turned into morning sex, and then a shower, and then shower sex. You would think it would be excessive but they were so good at it, they thought they owed it to the sport to perform their hardest.

Eventually Magnus had to head out for an afternoon show, and Alec felt kind of bummed but the magician promised they could hang out that night if he wanted.

With a wistful kiss Magnus left, and within three minutes Izzy was bursting through the door yelling, “Big brother, you tramp!”

Alec looked her like she might pull a knife out of her pocket at any moment, “What?”

“I just saw your magic man downstairs. Wearing a pair of your sweatpants!” Alec had to lend Magnus some pants because he’d word the most ridiculous skinny jeans the night before, which were great because they showed off his ass, but they weren’t so good for doing the Walk of Shame. “So not only did he stay here last night, but half the day as well?” Alec always said Izzy was so perceptive she’d be a great addition to the force.”

“Yeah you know we just hung out here for a bit, before he had to go to the station for a show.”

Izzy scrunched up her face at the implication, “That is totally gross but totally fabulous! I hope this isn’t a hit-it and run. You two are moving pretty fast.”

Alec thought about the events of the last twenty-four hours, scoured his brain for any detail or sign out of place. He definitely wasn’t imagining things, what they had was real, the fact they decided to sleep together now didn’t change that.

He simply shook his head and shrugged at Izzy in response. “Do I dare ask what your night with Beavis and Butthead was like?”

“For your information,” she said pointedly, “we had a very nice night, we went on a very classy date, they were gentlemen. We watched the notebook and fell asleep as Raphael’s.”

“Sexy.” Alec’s phone rang, and hoping it was Magnus deciding to come back rushed to answer.

“Hello?”

“Lightwood, it’s Luke,” Sergeant Garroway? “It’s about your brother, could you please come down here to pick him up?”

“Pick him up? He looked at Izzy, and she leaned in, knowing something was up.

“I’ll fill you in when you get here. Bring Izzy.”

*****

They rushed down to the station at a dangerous pace, Alec’s fine motor skills once again coming into play. Izzy didn’t even bother to tell him to sit down.

They entered the precinct where Garroway led them to his office. Jace was next to the desk, and he looked like shit. His hair was mussed, and his eyes were bloodshot, he was looking at his feet in a daze.

“Jace?”

“He came in last night, real late,” Luke explained before Jace could answer, “Ridiculously drunk, he went to one of the holding cells we have here, there happened to be a suspect from the burglary ring case. The other officers saw him collect the guy out of the cell, nice and civilized, they didn’t know something was up until they heard shouting from the interrogation room, and they rushed in to find him standing over the perp, screaming and asking the guy for answers. He’d wrecked the guys face, blood all over his hands,” Alec glanced frantically and saw Jace did indeed have dried blood on his knuckles, and it wasn’t his.

“Jace what were you thinking?” Izzy breathed stepping forward and leaning down in front of their brother.

“I cant- I don’t remember. I’m so tired of it, all they do is get away with it, but I would never. I mean I did but I never meant to-“ It went on like this for a while, he seemed to be talking to himself, trying to piece together what had happened. He was right; usually Jace would never be this stupid or rash. He was the best officer Alec knew, and usually so patient. It didn’t make sense. He’d never mentioned he was having a hard time.

“We had to let the guy go, no way we could keep him on hold after all of this, old him not to leave the city,” Luke sat in his chair behind the desk and leaned back, “But I’m going to have to suspend your brother, indefinitely until all of this is sorted. He’s of the case permanently.”

Alec sighed and nodded at the sarge, he was grateful; he knew the consequences could have been a lot worse.

They drove Jace home; Alec white knuckling the steering wheel, his brow furrowed.

“Alec,” Izzy murmured, as if to avoid Jace hearing, “I know that face. Don’t take this as a reflection on you, you couldn’t have known. You can’t let this send you spiralling again, that doesn’t help you, or me or Jace” she paused, “or Magnus.”

 

He couldn’t help but take all this to heart, however and spent the rest of the day looking after Jace, getting him cleaned up and fed, and when Jace refused to say anything more to him, he sent him off to bed. Afterward Alec began falling back into a familiar, obsessive pattern and started cleaning the apartment. When he was finished, he went over it and cleaned it again until his hands were sore.

His phone buzzed somewhere, he didn’t know whereabouts he’d left it but it barely registered anyway, his mind was too frantic to care at that point. There had been no warning signs that Jace would do something like this. He supposed the mix of alcohol and frustration could have been enough to make Jace burst. He was a very passionate man.

The sun moved across the sky, Izzy had left and come home from a work shift deciding to take a shorter day, Alec’s phone was still buzzing somewhere, the noise reverberating through his skull and he as still up and about doing things. He cleaned, organised, rearranged things, looked blankly at some papers he’d brought home from work. His eye’s felt like they were full of sand and his head was foggy.

Jace left his room sheepishly, after having been asleep for twelve hours. “Alec?” he sounded confused, and Alec detected that worried, edgy tone people used when they knew he was working too hard. “Have you been awake this time?”

Why the fuck did you do it? Alec thought, but he’d never voice his emotions because he didn’t want to upset Jace any worse.

“I was just doing some stuff, waiting for you to get up encase you needed anything,” he said, not looking his brother in the eye.

“I’m fine bud, really I can look after myself. You need to rest, eat something.” Why was Jace acting like he was the sane one all of a sudden? That wasn’t right. 

“We’ve run out of milk. I need to go get milk, we’re out of milk…” he said absently, moving to grab his keys.

“Alec,” Jace moved forward and grabbed his wrist lightly to stop him before he rushed out of the door.

“You’ve got to stop. It’s time to stop Okay? I’m so sorry about what I did, you have no idea. I might lose my job, I still might have to face charges, but the worst thing is I let you down. I’m sorry man, but this isn’t on you okay? You don’t have to leave, we can go and get milk tomorrow, maybe get some breakfast.” He sounded hopeful, like he had nearly talked Alec off of a ledge, but when Alec looked his brother in the eye his chest hurt. 

Jace had just had the worst day of his life but he was so focussed on Alec, trying to make him feel better. The guilt was too much; Alec had to leave the apartment, Jace calling after him.

He couldn’t afford to get sent home like last time, there was too much work to do, they had to settle this case so that Jace could get back to work so he had to look as alert and professional as possible.

*****

“Lightwood,” Garroway was on him as soon as he walked through the door, he must have been waiting, “did you get Jace home okay? He looked like he was on deaths door when you guys left. Come to think of it you don’t look so great yourself. I hope you didn’t work yourself too hard looking after him…” Luke was squinting at him, like he was mapping Alec’s face for any red flags.

He nodded and gave a weak smile, hoping that he was portraying the right mix of sadness and energetic, he probably looked like a maniac.

“Okay well you’ll love this. After you guys left, the perp Jace roughed up called his lawyer. I don’t know what they said but he spilled the beans on the whole operation right away, probably afraid of another beating.”

Alec stood up straight, “What did he say? Do we have a new lead? Maybe a name for their boss?”

Luke huffed as they walked into their small break room and got some coffee, “He fingered a guy named ‘Valentine’, gotta be some code name, but he gave us an address for one of their headquarters.”

“Well that’s great, when do we move in?” Alec was suddenly wide awake, all fogginess in his brain replaces by a crazed alertness. 

Luke looked at him frowning as if Alec had just said something stupid, “We don’t. It’s obviously a set up we need to do some recon, look up everything we can about this Valentine guy, then we hand it off to one of the more equipped precincts or agencies so they can send in a squad.”

“What? We’re just going to hand the case over? ” Alec realised he’d gotten up in Lukes face a little too late, the sergeant starring him down, his body an imposing wall, Alec cowered back a little.

“I’d think twice before you take that tone with me again. You’re back on beat today with a temporary partner. You need to forget about all of this, you’ve done a good job and I’ll make sure the right people hear about this, but right now you need to collect all the files you have on this case. You understand?”

Alec felt his blood pressure rise, his body heating up with it, his breathes short and quick, there was a dull thudding in the back of his skull, he didn’t think he’d ever been this mad. Without solving this case how was he supposed to clear Jace’s name? It wasn’t worth arguing with Luke over it, he’d get sent away, benched like his brother. The thought of sitting in a car all day with one of the other officers, none of whom he particularly liked, made the bile in his throat rise up.

He looked down at the desk, the files and their contents a blur, his eyes were so tired, he knocked one off the desk and had to bend down to pick it up when someone entered the precinct.

“Magnus?” 

The magician was dressed very unusually. He looked more like he was applying for a business loan than going out and astounding crowds with magic or dancing in a nightclub. His clothes weren’t tailored to him, like they were borrowed and he looked worn out, totally unlike himself. He also looked incredibly nervous, pulling at the neck of a very boring plain white shirt.

“Hello Alexander, I just thought I’d pop by before I headed out, I have a meeting and Izzy said I should stop by? She sounded concerned. I had to admit I was a little worried myself when I didn’t hear from you...” If Alec had have been paying closer attention he would see how vulnerable Magnus looked, or hear the uncertainty in the other mans voice.

Alec looked up at his files and saw all of this, but instead of feeling a sadness, a need to rush forward and hug the other man and assure him everything was okay, he felt more guilt over disappointing another person.

“I’ve just been kind of busy Magnus it’s okay. Izzy doesn’t need to send recon teams to check on me every few hours I’m fine .I’ve just been sorting all of this shit out so Jace can come back and I don’t get fired,” there was a definite, manic energy around Alec that Magnus noticed, something completely out of character for such a calm, sweet man.

He tried to be as light-hearted as he could, “You know Izzy is only worried, but of course I wouldn’t do that to you. I was just worried after not hearing from you is all, our day together was quite amazing, I thought something might have happened to you…” there was that uncertainty in his voice, like that’s not all he was worried about.

“I’m sorry I just forgot,” Alec said flippantly, “like I said I’ve got other things on my mind, you know” he looked at Magnus dead in the eye and said emphatically,   
Magnus was definitely a little bit taken aback by this, Alec was emitting a bit of hostility and Alec himself could see the hurt look on Magnus’ face. 

“Were only hear to help Alec, you should let your friends take care of you so you don’t have to do everything at once you know? Let me take you out to lunch, you can take a breather, get you fed.”

“I can’t Magnus, there’s too much work to do some people have to work for a whole day, not just an hour here or there whenever they feel like it. REAL work.” 

“REAL work? What do you mean by that?” Magnus’ raised voice was quite impressive, filling the room, commanding, a little bit frightening. People were starting to look. Look was peering outside his door at them, ready to intervene 

“Yeah, real work, where I save peoples lives, not just hustle people out of their money on a dirty street corner!” the precinct went silent, and Alec’s heart stopped. 

Alec looked up after his tirade and almost didn’t recognise the man standing in front of him. The magicians face was contorted into an ugly mask of rage, humiliation, and betrayal. It was like looking at the face who had opened up their heart to you, and was sure as shit never going to make that mistake again.

“Fuck. You”, Magnus’ voice was a quiet fury, shaking Alec right to his bones, and the Magician was leaving, almost jogging for the door.

“Magnus wait! Please!”

He stood at his desk a little dumbfounded, tears dripping all over his desk. He was glad he wasn’t an open weeper.

To avoid another scene Luke, who by all rights should have been screaming at him, swooped in and led him to his office. To Alec it felt cold; everything did, like he was sitting in an icebox.

“You’re done lightwood. That was inexcusable, unprofessional, and cruel. Now I don’t exactly know Magnus that great, but he cares about you, and you just broke that mans heart over what? A cold case? This is beyond anything I could have expected from you Alec. And worst of all you brought it into the precinct, embarrassing yourself and the rest of the officers. You’re immediately suspended, without pay, indefinitely. Hand in your gun and your badge, go home.” Lukes voice was a low rumble that reverberated down Alec’s spine, forcing him to move.

And he felt so dejected, so utterly destroyed that he went, without argument. He moved to his desk to clean it out but not before spotting the Valentine case files on a table, and snatching one when no one was looking.

He’d taken the car when Jace was suspended so he had a place to sit in shock for a while, for what seemed like hours. His ears were still ringing and his heart beating, up until now his only concern had been saving his brother and cracking the case, but now all he could think of was the memory of Magnus, shocked and hurt in the middle of a crowded room, and he was the one that did that to him.

They’d known each other for a short time but Alec knew he’d ruined something big. Something way more important than a case or a job. He’d ruined chance at a caring relationship with an amazing, creative man. He felt sick, he felt sad, and he felt guilty.

*****

He was met at his apartment with a quick slap to the face. A literal slap to the face courtesy of Izzy.

“Ow what the f-“ He could barely get a word out because Izzy was screaming at him in Spanish, he heard the words “you shithead,” and “What kind of vile shit” and Magnus’ name a couple dozen times so he assumed the magician had given her a call.

“Izzy- Iz please I know okay… I know…” his voice cracked and his eyes started watering and she stopped, her sisterly instincts kicking in, clucking her tongue and bringing him for a hug. She was like half his size but still managed to comfortably cradle his head on her shoulder as he sobbed.

“What happened?” she moved towards the kitchen to get a tissue for him, and he sat next to their gritty counter, staring at the cracks and chips in the vinyl.

“So much. So much is wrong, I was so frustrated, with the job, with the law with Luke,” he sighed guiltily, ”with Jace… I just thought if I could fix all of it, sort all of his shit out then we could all get back to normal you know?”

“That’s so stupid you are in no way shape or form responsible for Jace’s actions, and for you to decide to take on that role is pigheaded.”

“Will you ease up a bit Iz? I know, I feel like shit.”

“I know and we’ll sort you out in a second but you need to hear this,” she moved around the room grabbing cups and Tylenol and the remnants of whatever was left in their cupboards. One of the hinges on a cabinet door pinged off, leaving the door crooked, she sighed slamming it back into place. No matter how shitty their situation, their apartment, their lives were she always dealt with the blows and tried to make the best of what they had, to sort them all out so they could finally stand on their own two feet.

“Being a tool and working yourself to death, not being in the right place in your head, that’s no excuse for treating people like that, you have to have a modicum of control over yourself, because that’s what human beings do. You get that right?” he nodded.

“Do you think he’ll ever forgive me?”

She sighed, “Probably not in this universe. If you’d said that shit to me I would have kicked your balls so far up inside you they’d hit your brain,” he smiled weakly, she knew how to paint a picture, “But Magnus seems like he’s full of tricks, so you never know. But you need to get your shit together first because you can’t be dragging him into all of this psycho nonsense.”

Jaces door banged open and he rushed out carrying a desk lamp. It had only been a few days but he’d become quite a slob, hair a mess, face covered in stubble and pizza stains all over his pajamas, which he had not changed out of since god knows when.

“What happened? I heard yelling…”

Izzy looked at him wide eyed, “How the city will cope without you two geniuses on the force I do not know.”

After sheepishly shuffling his way into his room Alec closed his door and pulled the folder he’d stolen from his bag. A cursory glance showed that this was one of the files Luke was planning on giving to the new squad in charge of the case, filled with dates, names, locations. There was a small profile on “Valentine”, and a few snapshots of a shipping warehouse from a far. That must have been the hide out. He checked the date and time and confirmed where it was. All the things Izzy had said seemed to seep out of his brain. This was everything he needed to infiltrate and shake up the burglary ring. He could end this once and for all, and move on. He began formulating a plan, finding an old pin board under his bed he used to have filled with awards from school. He hung it up and began mapping out the case

*****

He showed up two days later at the train station, around mid afternoon, when it was full of buskers and artists. Izzy had said he should wait things out a bit with Magnus, but he had to try to fix things, he couldn’t let Magnus think he didn’t care that he’d hurt him.

He’d tried coming up with a hundred different text messages that he could use to apologise but he saw that as cowardly, if he was going to man up, it had to be in person. When he looked around however, the area was relatively clean of performers. The area where Magnus usually performed was empty.

“Hey you, asshole!” Alec jumped. He knew that voice, he just wasn’t used to hearing it so angry.

“Clary?” he turned just in time to see the small woman raise her fist to hit him and he dodged just in time, “Hey, please wait I’m sorry wait- Stop trying to fight me!” he used the halt in her assault as a good start, “Where’s Magnus?”

“Ooh no, you don’t get to ask that. Not after what you did to him,” he had to respect her anger and willingness to fight for her friend. If someone had hurt someone he loved the way he hurt Magnus, he’d probably have done the same thing.

“Please, just give me a chance…” he pleaded. She looked at him, squinting like he was a tiny piece of dirt.

“Come here,” she grabbed his arm and pulled him towards her drawing station which he hadn’t realised was there, with a full line of people waiting to be drawn. They’d seen their whole exchange and he ducked his head as they all looked at him.

“Excuse me ma’am? I need to talk to this piece of garbage for a bit do you mind waiting in line for a bit longer?” the old woman on the chair, presumably in the middle of getting drawn, looked a bit affronted but stood nonetheless. 

“Clary please we don’t have to do this,” he protested as she physically forced him to sit down on the portrait chair, before she sat at hers and began sorting out her charcoal pieces, beginning to sketch out a new piece. “What are you…”

“I’m hustling you out of your money, now sit still if you flail about I can’t capture your essence.” Alec really didn’t like this side of her.

“Just give me a chance to explain,” he pleaded.

“Okay, explain” she gave him a dirty look, a quick appraisal of his facial features, before turning back to her work, drawing furiously.

“It’s just everything’s so crazy, my brother got suspended from his job, so I took his share of the work on this really busy case that’s been keeping me up all hours this week…” 

“And?” she asked like what he’d just said meant nothing to her, and it wouldn’t really. 

“And I never meant to take it out on Magnus…”

She scoffed, making two large strokes onto the drawing, “You know how hard it is performing the streets?”

“Huh?”

“We’re not just broke people with no jobs who show up and hustle. It’s not that easy. For us to perform and create the way we need permits, police checks, we get abused, the officers of the law that are supposed to protect us,” she said pointedly, “are the ones constantly trying to usher us away, “go play somewhere else”…”

“Hey I’m a cop and I would never-“

“Right because you’re one of the good ones? Except you aren’t because what you said to Magnus is exactly the type of things we hear from our families, the cops, random people on the street. But we put up with all of that. not because of the money. It’s because we love what we do, and we want to share what we do with people. Magnus isn’t doing this because he’s broke.”

Alec sat back in his chair for a moment and surveyed the area, looking at some of the other artists working, from fledgling musicians to weird performance artists, one man had spray painted himself silver, so he looked like he was made metal, and he was just standing, the crowd watching to see if he was moving, trying to get him to break character. A group of schoolboys clearly ditching school were making funny faces at the guy, making jokes. The man made a quick startling movement towards them before returning to his original position and the kids screamed, and then playing it off like it hadn’t fazed them.

Near one of the station tunnel entrances an old, grizzled man in a hat and sunglasses sat playing jazz music on his saxophone, the beautiful tones drifting around. There was even a man on stilts trying to take a selfies with a little girl and her mom. It was all amazing, but without Magnus and his show it somehow didn’t seem quite as exciting, and that was his fault.

He turned back to face Clary and she was staring at him intently, “See… That’s why we do it, that look on your face right there. And Magnus? He puts so much care and love into his work; you’ve seen the crowds he pulls in. What did it feel like when you saw his show the first time?”

Alec swallowed, finding the question oddly intimate, like he was embarrassed to admit how charmed he was by Magnus, and how in awe he was of his magic, even though he never believed or cared for such things before.

His expression must have been answer enough so she continued, “Exactly. You know what he told me about you? After the first couple of times seeing you at his show? He said you looked at him like he was a shooting star, or a great wonder. He said no one had ever looked at him or his art like that…” the guilt was clawing at Alec’s throat like a pack of wild dogs. “When you said you didn’t really respect that? It crushed him. He said he didn’t feel much like performing.”

Alec looked at the spot Magnus usually performed, panicked, “Wh- So he’s just not doing his act anymore? Is that why he’s not here?”

“Luckily I convinced him that his art, his work, was important no matter what any stupid cop says, and he was too good to let his talent go to waste. He was coming to see you that day to announce some good news, about expanding his show. He nearly tanked the interview because he was so wrecked, but the guy confused his tears for a passion for the craft I guess, so he got the gig.” She stood and knelt down, rummaging through her bag looking for something, before pulling out a crumpled flyer.

It was gold and sparkly; definitely enough to grab the eye, there was a silhouette of a rabbit in a top hat, holding a martini glass, and atop the page emblazoned in green letters:  
COME SEE THE MAGNIFICENT MAGNUS’ MARVELOUS MAGIC SHOW, every Friday at the Hunters Moon, show this pamphlet to the bar for a free drink.

So Magnus really wasn’t performing at the station anymore.   
There went his chance to go and hunt him down to apologise.

“You can come if you want but if you get within three feet of him I’ll kick your teeth in.” she said sweetly, tearing her finished drawing off the easel and showing it to him.

Instead of a portrait she had drawn an obscene caricature of him, riding in a little toy police car about to hit a banana like in Mario Kart, there was a caption underneath: Officer Jackass.

“That’ll be thirty dollars.”

*****

Alec had spent the next week planning his infiltration of Valentines base, he’d found maps and blueprints, he’d monitored security positions and the path of the watchmen, and he’d figured out where Valentines base of operations was located, that’s where he’d arrest the boss and call in the precinct for assistance and extraction.

He looked at the poster for Magnus’ show that he’d pinned to his board. The last show was three days ago and he had been too afraid to pop in and see how the show might be going. He vowed he would do it the next week, after the operation when he had a clear head.

He’d packed everything he needed in a small bag and slung it over his shoulder. It was nighttime, Izzy was down at the club, and Jace was sleeping after a long day of playing Fallout and eating Cheetos.

He didn’t want to risk driving to the shipping yard so he ordered an Uber to take him within 5 blocks of the place. However when his car rolled up he could hear the muffled sounds of rap music from inside, the driver was blaring it. That was a bad start. 

“Whattup bro headed out for a night on the town?” asked the very white Uber driver, “dressed in all black are planning a heist or somethin’?” he asked jokingly and Alec froze. “Haaaaaa I’m just jokin’ with you man. You probably off chasin’ some tail, you got a special someone bro?”

Alec didn’t think Uber drivers were supposed to get this personal, wasn’t there supposed to be like, rules and background checks? But he felt nervous so he obliged the guy.

“Uh, an ex actually.”

“Oooh you on your way to win them back?”

Alec sighed looking out the window, “I don’t know if that’s possible. I don’t think I could ever fix what we had.”

“Nah man love conquers all, no matter what happens. You’ll find a way to make your way back together, people can surprise you. You seem like a nice dude, you got the tall dark and handsome thing going on, they’re bound to come back to you. What are they like.”

Alec paused, and really thought about it before answering, “He’s amazing. Smart, talented, weird, and beautiful… I fucked it up so bad, he deserves better.”

“Ah the most important thing about apologies is that you really understand what you did you, and promise to do better ya feel?” Alec did indeed feel, “Yo we’re here. You sure this is the place? There’s nothing around here at all.”

“Yeah this is fine,” he thanked the guy, for the ride and the advice, and tipped him before starting the nerve-racking walk in the dark towards the shipping yard.

The smell of salt water and oil told him he was close and he stuck close to the ground and the surrounding buildings as he began seeing guards dotting in and out of the area. He counted as they went, the speeds they were walking and planned his entrance accordingly. He wanted this to be swift and silent, he was ready to take out any single assailants if it came down to it but he didn’t want to make any noise or attract any other thieves. 

The layout was essentially a grid, with a 4 by 5 shipping container placement, four guards, one for each row patrolled alternately. He had an edge, being a single assailant he was unlikely to attract a lot of attention, but the downside was he had no backup, so if he was caught.

As a guard turned a corner towards the outer side of the block he quickly approached the actual entrance to the yard. A large chain-link gate blocked his path with a large padlock and chain. He’d brought bolt cutters, but he have to be quick, the next guard to arrive back at the gate would be in fifteen minutes and they would eventually find the chain and lock on the ground, gate open, and sound an alert. He had very little time. 

Using the bolt cutters in his bag, he swung the gate open as quietly as possible, but there was still a bit of a creak that rattled around the metal walls of the shipping container. He couldn’t bring a flashlight for obvious reasons so he had to move in the dark, hoping there were no trip wires or holes as he fumbled his way in. The yard was wider than he thought, so he had to move quicker to cover the extra ground, when he came up against the first guard. He’d time his movements, heading forward when the guard was turned away.

When the guard turned, beginning to move from view Alec clenched to move, but before he could run for it, the bolt cutters that he’d hastily shoved back in his pack fell out, hitting the with concrete with a wet ‘thwack!’. Alec quickly dodged back into the corner he was hiding behind to avoid being fired at as the guard quickly turned and sped back towards him. He had to think fast, a loud altercation would mean game over. He picked up the bolt cutters by one handle raising the, and then bringing them down onto the guards head as he turned to face Alec, his face a sudden mask of confusion before he dropped to the ground. Shit. Alec knelt down quickly to make sure he hadn’t killed the guy or that there wasn’t any bleeding. He grabbed the very alive guard under the arms and dragged him into the shadows, away from the paths of any of the other guards, one of which was already getting uncomfortably close.

As he settled the guy down however, he noticed the shipping container nearest to him was cracked open. Curiosity got the better of him, and he opened the doors increment by increment, and ducking inside the pitch black box. He fumbled for the phone in his back pocket and flicked on the flashlight mode, gasping.

It was like entering the vaults in a heist movie. Bricks of bright coloured money, wrapped tightly together covered one side of the wall, the other was filled with what he assumed were safety deposit boxes. How long had these people been doing this? He took some quick snaps to send in for evidence.

He exited the hangar and began heading back towards the base. Valentine would be situated on a boat docked right next to the yard, a few rows away. He moved quickly, and the boat quickly came into view. He had to launch into cover as the guard closest to the ship walked by, and then quickly climbed the ramp and boarded the ship.

Where he was met by the biggest, craziest looking guard he’d ever seen, immediately raising and rushing towards him with a gun. Alec needed all the police training he remembered to deal with this. He hopped forward, bolt cutters in hand and cracked them down on the man’s hand, and he dropped the gun instantly. It clattered across the deck, and the guard, tripping Alec, surged towards it. Alec camo crawled and leapt onto the guys back, covering the behemoths mouth with his hand and pulling him back to stop him from screaming.

It was a miracle none of the other gaurds had come to aid him. The guard, Alec straddling him, reached forward and his fingers where millimetres from the gun. Alec moved his hand from the gaurds hand quickly, jumping quickly, feet digging into the mans legs, stomach smacking into his head and subsequently smashing the guys head into the deck. Alec flailed, punching the gun instead of gripping it, and successfully knocking it overboard with a plop.

The man swivelled around on his back so he was facing Alec, and punched the cop sideways into the stomach, knocking the wind out of him. He rolled onto his back, and the guard arose, turning on him, furious with blood flowing from his nose. His arms outreached, hands closing in on Alec’s neck and pressing down. 

Alec panicked, arms flailing and smacking on the deck, he felt the blood fill his face, and began blacking out before his fingers scraped against something. On instinct he grabbed the handle of the bolt cutters and crashed them into the man’s head, multiple times. He heard a crunch, and the man fell onto the deck. 

The world came back to him, little by little, head aching, throat constricting. Alec felt something warm on his stomach and quickly realised it was blood. He didn’t know if it was his. He rolled over, and waited a few minutes. He kneeled into a crouching position, another few minutes. He slowly stood, feel like he was about to vomit. He realised he was looking at a door. There was a square, a room, on the top of the boat. Valentines office. He forced his legs forward, and raised his hand, and turned the knob of the door.

The man didn’t look shocked or outraged at his entrance, no “who let you in here???” he just raised a quizzical brow as the cop close the door behind him.

“You’re Valentine?” Alec asked, hand on the tazor he’d taken from the precinct hidden in his bag.

“The same. Who are you?” the man stood, he was suitably fit but not imposingly so, yet there was something intimidating in those handsome/grizzled features. Like the man knew in his heart of hearts that he had the upper hand in any and every situation. “Police? Where’s your squad officer? Don’t tell me you scurried onto my ship and bypassed the guards all by yourself? Admirable. But you seem to be running a fools errand of your own design. I’m assuming you’ve taken it upon yourself to arrest me singlehandedly?”

Alec was becoming uneasy and unsure of himself, as Valentine continues to stare at him intently, as if looking for a single thread he could pull to make Alec unravel. 

“You don’t have backup.” Valentine had crossed his desk and was now standing in front of Alec. He was shorter but somehow Alec knew that wouldn’t matter. “So you only have one opportunity to get this right, arrest me, be the hero. You better make it count, because one of us isn’t going to make it out of here, and I don’t fancy your chances.”

Valentines first punch was so fast and so hard it had Alec toppling onto the floor, his nose starting to bleed immediately. On trying to get up he was met by two strong hands grabbing him by the collar and lifting him, throwing him against the metal walls of the boat, and fell on his ass, hard. 

The tazor was just to his left so he quickly grabbed it and as Valentine charged for a third time, shot it into the criminals ankle, making him topple over into the wall with a crack. Alec used the opportunity and hurled himself off of the floor, getting in a few good punches while Valentine was down, hoping for a quick knockout.

No such luck as valentine used the wall as leverage so he could kick Alec right in the stomach, making him choke and suck in air, losing his balance for a bit.

“This was a mistake son. I’ve seen you and your dirty little precinct nosing around my business and it’s honestly been upsetting me a bit, and now you’re going to bare the brunt of that.” He slipped what looked like a long throwing dagger out of his pocket and Alec backed right up, the tazor and bolt cutters across the room. 

Valentine came at him with the knife and he dodged, counter manuevered like in training using his arms to block. Valentine wasn’t trying to kill, not ye he never aimed anywhere that would kill Alec instantly. There where a few close calls, the knife finely grazed his cheek making him wince. 

He heard a commotion from outside, voices yelling, and was distracted enough to let Valentine get in a good blow to his arm, making the limb useless. He screamed and there seemed like there was someone banging on the door but it all drowned out as Valentine lunged, the dagger finding a place just bellow his ribs. He could barely register the shock before Valentine grabbed him by the head and slammed it against the desk, and then everything went black. He heard shouting, and someone laughing. 

*****

Everything hurt, and he really needed to puke, and why was this person shouting at him?

In reality it was just Izzy, coaxing him slowly out of unconsciousness. “Alec, Alec sweetie wake up, come on big brother you’ve been asleep long enough you gotta wake up now okay?” Izzy’s voice was cracking and raw, like she had been crying and she was about to start up again soon.

Alec opened his eyes a slither and scrunched them shut again as the overhead light burned into his eyes.

“Sorry I’ll dim the lights a bit,” said an unfamiliar voice, and suddenly the world came into focus, lit only by the surrounding machines beeping rhythmically. That was a good sign, he thought, it meant he was alive, beeping was good.

“Alec, how are you feeling? Can you tell me where you are? Who this is sitting next to you?” the doctor was trying to asses his mental faculties; things were coming back to him, but far too slowly.

He swivelled his head a little, which was a huge mistake as he felt like a thousand knifes where digging into his brain, but a person came into view. Izzy, he knew Izzy he could never forget her, right now it felt like she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. “Izzy,” his voice was a slurr, like he had a gumball in his mouth and he was trying to talk around it, “my sister,” he squeezed her hand as hard as he could but he was so weak, so tired.

Isabelle smiled, tears welling in her eyes as she wiped the matted hair away from her forehead.

“That’s right big brother I’m here. Do you remember what happened? At the shipping yard with Valentine?” he scrunched his face trying to remember, who was Valentine again? He slowly remembered, the searing pain under his rib, which was now a slightly duller ache thanks to the painkillers, and his head, like fireworks exploding behind his eyes, and then everything went blank.

“That’s okay a little bit of memory loss is expected, some confusion, you might need to help him with some simple things he might not be able to do yet,” the doctor was talking to Isabelle, which was good because they were going right past him. “He’s got several contusions and lacerations, it’s likely there are some effects from that that need to be monitered.

“Will he be okay? Like will he be like this for ever?” Izzy asked.

“There’s no way of knowing when he will regain all brain function but scans show there is no severe internal injury, I’d expect he’d make a full recovery.”

Isabelle thanked the doctor and he left. 

It was a slow couple of hours after that, Izzy giving him small sips of water, talking softly about Jace, who said he’d be in tomorrow, and her job and boyfriends. When Alec asked about anything more serious, like what had happened, or if he was in trouble with his job, she dodged the question. 

An image popped into his head, a pack of cards, a figure covered with glitter. “What about Ma- Mag…” he stuttered, the name hurting his brain a little bit for some reason. Izzy looked at him for a long time, concerned.

“I haven’t called him,” Alec’s heart sank; he didn’t really know why he expected any different. The picturesque image of the boyfriend rushing to his bedside after a lovers quarrel, like in the movies, it just wasn’t going to happen. “You need to put him out of your mind, you need to rest and recover, your family is here to take care of you, you don’t need to stress.

*****

The next few days where a blur as he flicked in and out of consciousness, Jace came in a few times, gently joking with him, still avoiding any details about work. Izzy was there almost all the time, reading Magazines, getting food from the cafeteria for him because hospital food was the worst. She brought Simon in one time, god knows why.

One morning his stitches burst open, and he needed a substantial amount of medication for the pain so when the nurse started talking to him everything sounded muted, like he was hearing conversations through a wall, and not a lot of it made sense.

“Did your friend end up coming in to see you last night?” the nurse asked.

“Hm?” that was a silly question; he didn’t really have any friends. Did she mean Simon? Simon definitely wasn’t his friend. Luke had already come in earlier that morning, being oddly silent and gruff, avoiding work talk in favour of meaningless chitchat. That was everyone accounted for.

“Yeah this guy, really fancy, looked like he was the ring leader at Circ du Soleil or something,” she laughed, and Alec laughed with her, even though he didn’t get it and it hurt his stomach.

“Yeah he was asking about you, wondering if you were okay. He seemed really worried, looked like he’d been crying. I told him he could come in to see you… did you talk to him?”

Alec had no idea who or what she was referring to. It was nice the mysterious stranger was worried about him. Alec wondered if he was good looking. He definitely hadn’t seen anyone come in.

*****

The day before he was due to be released he had some unexpected visitors. He felt much better, his head was clearer and his ribs felt okay, so he was surprised someone would come to see him this late.

“Mom? Dad? Max!” his little brother ran up to him, he was sitting up in a chair at the time, and almost knocked the breath out of him. He hadn’t seen a lot of his youngest sibling sine they moved out, he was glad to see him. His parents tho…

“Alec darling we were so worried,” his mother stepped towards him like she was going to hug him but paused. “We came in as soon as we heard… I’m so sorry that this happened to you.” Alec was too stunned to talk.

“Did you really stop that robber guy? I heard you nearly knocked him out! That’s so cool,” 

“Max! don’t say stuff like that,” his father said sternly before looking at him, determined,” I’m proud of you son. I hear you did a great job on this case… You’ve turned out to be a fine officer.”

‘Thanks dad…”

“Sweetheart I’m so sorry… I wish…” his mother stalled, desperately trying to find the right words.

“Hey max how about we go get something from the cafeteria huh?” his father said, trying to be discreet so mother and son could talk in private.

There was an excruciatingly long silence before his mother finally spoke, “I’m so sorry…” she said again, “for everything…”

“That’s okay mom… really,” it wasn’t.”

“No I’m serious, I just need you and your siblings to know…. I love you and your siblings so much, you are my greatest accomplishment, and my greatest treasure, and every day since you left… I would have called you the moment you walked out but I had no idea what to say. 

‘What I said, about me being ashamed… It couldn’t be farther from the truth. I was so swept up in wanting the best for you children… and in trying to do that I pushed you away. I’ll never forgive myself and I don’t expect you too either… but is there anyway we could try to… reconnect?” she looked incredibly vulnerable in a way that Maryse Lightwood never had before, tears welling in her eyes, desperate for forgiveness.

And Alec desperately wanted to forgive her. He loved his parents, and his mother was an amazing woman, but he was so afraid of being hurt again. It must have shown on his face, his mother was beginning to draw in on herself again.

“We can… We can try. I missed you…” he added quietly. His mother was on top of him in less than a moment in a crushing hug he didn’t think he’d felt since he was little, he hugged her back, and if his eyes welled up a bit so what.

*****

He walked back into their apartment slowly; hand on his side, Issabelle holding his arm, and Jace trailing behind them carrying his bags.

“You really hugged her? She didn’t crush you like a cobra before it eats you?”

“Jace!” Izzy hissed, “She caught up with me too in the hospital lobby, she seemed genuine. You don’t have to reach out if you don’t feel like it.”

“Good!” he moved to put the bags away and Alec suddenly noticed how clean the place was. Not clean by his standards, things were a little wonky here and there but for the most part the place looked good.

“You cleaned?” he asked Isabelle.

“No, Jace did.” 

“Jace did what?”

“I cleaned you jackass. I had so much time and I was here alone nearly all the time while you were away. I go back to work this week tho so goodbye boredome!” he looked at Alec, who still had no idea if his career was over or not and grimaced, “Oh man…”

“It’s fine. It gives me a chance to fix everything you messed up while you were “cleaning”” he grinned.

*****

The next few weeks were nothing but recovery, boredom, cleaning, boredom, sleeping and more boredom. Izzy left late and Jace left early so he rarely had anyone to talk to. He heard nothing about work at all which should have worried him more than it had. He supposed that after all that time on such a hard case, and then cracking it, he was probably copped out a bit.

His mother called a couple of times, their talks starting of short and stilted, and then they slowly started opening up to each other again. They even made plans to meet for lunch.

On a particularly chilly afternoon he went into his closet to find his favourite black hoodie, only to find it wasn’t there. He looked in every room, tried to see if Jace had taken it, nearly turned the whole house up and down looking for it. He had other sweaters but this one was his favourite and it sort of felt like he was back at work again, on the hunt for a lead, until finally he found it under his bed.

He pulled it out and put it on and it flicked a piece of paper from under his bed. Alec frowned, ready to scrunch it up until he saw the name on it:

COME SEE THE MAGNIFICENT MAGNUS’ MARVELOUS MAGIC SHOW

Oh.

It said he performed on Fridays, and it was a Friday, and it was also getting dark and nearing the time on the flier. 

It’d be a bad idea to go right? It had been months nearly since they’d seen each other, Magnus had probably already forgotten about him. Who knows if he was even still performing there? Alec was ashamed to admit on the days when he’d go out for walks for therapy he’d always try and spot Magnus at the station and was only ever a little bit disappointed when he couldn’t spot him.

But no, going would be a bad idea. Although Jace and Izzy both hadn’t been home that night and he’d probably just sit around the house thinking about it anyway. By the time he finished rationalising leaving he had already left.

*****

The Hunters Moon was actually in one of the pricier neighbourhoods in the city and it actually looked pretty cozy, nestled between a little café and a book store of all things, come to think of it the store looked really familiar, and Alec realised it was the shop he bought the Harry Potter book from. He couldn’t remember seeing a bar here before tho. He pulled his hood over his head, really not wanting to be spotted and entered.

The inside of the bar was gorgeous, with beautiful red painted walls and wooden booths and tables that looked incredibly comfortable with plush leather seats. Each table had its own little fake candle on top of it flickering with light. The bar looked old made of varnished wood and behind was every drink ever conceived by man. Most impressive where the beautiful strings of lanterns floating above casting the whole room in a warm glow. Alec was tired after the walk, still not fully recovered from the whole stabbing thing so he wobbled over to the bar and sat on one of the high stool where a pretty bartender with beautiful curly hair approached with a smile.

“Hi I’m Maia what can I get for you tonight?” Alec still wasn’t supposed to drink so he just asked for a water, figuring if he gave her Magnus’ flier his drink would have been cheap anyway, she looked at him knowingly, “just here to see the show huh? I get it, Magnus has brought in so much business for this place recently it’s incredible, we get regulars come back week after week even wanting to come see him. He has a lot of groupies,” she laughed. Alec face dropped and his brows furrowed.

Obviously Magnus would move on after they were together it had been so long but he didn’t really think about it until now. He looked up and Maia was looking at him knowingly, probably pity but there was something in her gaze, like she’d put together a puzzle in her head, “Oh my god finally”, she muttered and Alec looked at her bewildered, she cleared her throat, “Uh, I mean finally! The shows about to start,” she chuckled awkwardly, “I love watching it every week too. And hey maybe if you go talk to Magnus after the show he’ll take a liking to you. You seem like you might be his type,” she winked.

Some groovy music started playing up near a stage on one side of the room. It was a pretty impressive and then all of a sudden there he was. Magnus looked as beautiful as he ever did, maybe even more so since Alec hadn’t seen him in a while. He looked like a jewel, wearing a beautiful ping and blue patterned tux, the lights making the sequins on it dance, and he was sporting a wicked cat eye makeup style.

“Hello ladies, gentleman and fellow alcoholics,” there was a chuckle through the crowd; Alec was just relieved to hear his voice again. “Would you all give a round of applause to my gorgeous assistant,” the crowd clapped as one of the most beautiful women had ever seen came up to the stage, and Alec felt another vicious spike of jealousy. Obviously Magnus wasn’t the type to sleep around with assistants but she still got to be beautiful and close to him all the time.

“For my first trick, an old classic,” he proceeded to perform a trick Alec had only seen in movies or pictures, making his assistant float in mid air on her back, waving his hand above and beneath to show she wasn’t being lifted by strings or being held up by something. It was pretty impressive, the woman even moving her head to ace the crowd with a saccharine smile, waving to them with one hand.

“Light as a feather stiff as a board right?” Magnus chuckled and the crowd laughed with him, he really was very popular here. Alec was incredibly proud, even tho it wasn’t his place to be. Magnus was growing and reinventing himself, becoming a bigger star every day, getting paid to do what he loved doing. He was well on the way to living his dreams, and even though Alec might not have been in his life he couldn’t have been happier for him.  
Magnus’ next trick was something really special, grander than anything Alec had seen him do before, and it was full of Magnus Bane flare.

It was a quick-change act, and by quick Alec would say it was rapid-fire and dizzying. Magnus wasn’t the one doing the changing unfortunately for Alec, it was his assistant. It started off with a black sheet type thing, Magnus raised it up, covering his assistant head to toe and then whip it away, revealing another beautiful dress, and then another, and another. Next he literally threw a sheet on top of her so she looked like a ghost, and then pulled it away. A magical hat, a rotating cabinet, some fistfuls of confetti, reveal after reveal and it never got tiring because of the flare and personality Magnus brought to the act. The last dress was beautiful, flowy, almost like a wedding dress, before the two took a bow signifying the end. 

The crowd erupted in applause, and Alec forgot he was supposed to be incognito and clapped loudly as well. Magnus seemed to be drawn to the sound because he looked over curiously at the bar, Alec ducking behind his hood at the last second to avoid being spotted, he didn’t want to ruin the act.

Peeking from under his hood he’d seen that Magnus wasn’t looking at him, his face had momentarily slipped from the charismatic stage smile, he looked a bit confused and shaken. Alec was still pretty sure he’d ducked in time.

“O-okay everyone! Last trick of the night, do we have any beautiful couples in the audience? Someone on a date night perhaps? Ah yes, you two lovely ladies, would you like to come up here and help me out for my last trick? Wonderful!”

The crowd clapped as the two young women jumped up onto the stage and Magnus produced a deck of cards, shuffling them rapid-fire, god Alec had missed those hands.

Maia leaned in next to him, she’d been just as transfixed watching the show as Alec, “I love this trick, he does it nearly every week, it’s my favourite. Every time I ask him how he does it he just smirks at me and says, ‘My dear all you need is to open yourself up to love,’” she mimicked Magnus’ tone.

“Okay I’m going to help you guys out here,” Magnus continued, “I’m going to help you recreate that first time, that first perfect moment together, where maybe you held hands, or the was a touch of a shoulder, a hand on the cheek perhaps,” the girls smiled and Alec smiled wistfully too, thinking of that day he and Magnus had spent together, hands all over each other, not even sexually, just the memory of their fingers locking together, or Magnus rest his head on Magnus’ shoulder. His heart started to ache a little bit.

“Could you please hold your hand flat out, palm up towards your girlfriend? Lovely okay I’m going to put this card onto your hand, this here is the seven of clubs I’ll just put that there,” he placed the girls hand, “okay now lucky lady number two could you put one hand, and one bellow your girlfriends, and the beautiful lady with the card you place your other hand below hers, like a hand sandwich” the audience laughed again. The girls were giggling like crazy, looking into each other’s eyes, they were very clearly in love.

“Now I have a card here that I think might fit you two a little bit better okay,” he shuffle the cards again and flicked out a card into his hand, it was the ace of hearts of course, “Okay now watch,” he waved the card above their hands and pulled it back, “Ah that’s strange now I have the seven of clubs,” he held it up, “Ladies can you feel that spark between you coming back? Open up your hands up,” The girls opened their hands and showed that they had the ace of hearts. The crowd roared, and Magnus hugged them as they went back to their seats. 

“Thank you everyone I am the Magnificent Magnus, you’ve been as wonderful as ever thank you so much!” Magnus then agreed to take some selfies with the audience because the art of the autograph was dead.

Desperate to avoid being seen, Alec pulled his hood down further over his head, rummaged to find some change in his pockets to shove in the tip jar and left a startled Maia at the bar, stepping out as the cold air slapped him in the face.

He moved aside a bit and leaned against the front of the building, hands on his knees, to breathe in deeply a few times, the cold scorching his throat and lungs and making his eyes water. At least that’s what he told himself his eyes were watering for.

Why had he gone there? He had just made it a thousand times harder than it would have been to get over Magnus, feeling a fresh new pain in his chest that had dulled a bit since they last left each other.

Magnus was doing well, excelling even, it was incredibly selfish for him to go a stink up with his depressed, unemployed self, especially having nit supporting Magnus’ work in the first place.

Seeing those girls in the bar, so happy together, it hurt, but he knew that that was the kind of love Magnus deserved, and he thought he had been ready to give that too him. 

A gust of warm air puffed out of the bar and Alec, needing to get out of the cold, instinctively moved towards the door but then there he was. Magnus had come outside and was looking around the street, confused. Alec turned tail quickly to avoid being seen, he didn’t want to embarrass himself any further.

“Alexander?” Fuck, he’d been sprung. He couldn’t run away now, so he turned sheepishly and looked at Magnus, close up for the first time in months, and his breath was taken from him again like it had when the cold air had struck him.

You could see Magnus from afar, doing his show from across the room, and take in the beautiful extravagance of his clothes, his hair and makeup, his charisma that filled a room, but he was even more beautiful up close. It was easier to see any flaws in his crazy outward appearance, but it didn’t matter because there was incredible warmth, and a more human vulnerability you couldn’t quite pinpoint when he was on stage.

The bow in his lips, the flecks of colour in his eyes, filled at that moment with uncertainty, the nervous habit of rubbing his thumb and forefinger together. Oh boy.

In contrast Alec looked like he’d just crept out of a sewer on the way to a funeral, donned in black, rings under his eyes. The not yet healed scar under his ribs started pulsating adding to his discomfort.

“I thought I spotted you in there, by the bar with Maia,” Magnus finally spoke,” I wasn’t sure, I didn’t think I would ever see you again, let alone show up to one of my shows.”

“Yeah I- I’m sorry I shouldn’t have come, you’re doing so well In there I didn’t want to put you off,” he looked Magnus in the eyes,” but I couldn’t resist anymore.”

The magician’s lips twitched up sadly, “I was glad to see you to be honest, so you could see my show. Not because of what you said before… I just wanted you to see it.”

“You were amazing Magnus, you captured that whole room’s attention,” mine too he wanted to say, but he thought that would come off as selfish. 

“I came to see you,” Magnus fidgeted. What did that mean, Alec wondered, when? “at the hospital, after your fight with Valentine. Jace and Clary, I guess they still text and he let it slip, and then I had to practically shake Clary down to find out. She told me not to see you but I had to make sure you were okay, after what you and me had… I just had to know.”

Had. Right. “You looked a mess I couldn’t sleep that night I was worried so sick. You’d been murmuring, you must have been dreaming or something. Names, Jace and Isabelle mostly, and your parents… And then you muttered my name. I felt so guilty.”

“What? No please don’t feel like that I don’t deserve… After what I said. There is no good enough reason for me to say what I said to you. I know how important your career is to you and I just shit on that.”

Magnus looked shocked, like he wasn’t expecting such a passionate apology, “You were very stressed,” he tried to concede. Alec stepped forward, overwhelmed with sadness that Magnus would feel that way, but he stopped himself before he got too close, not quite sure of where their boundaries were yet.

“No, I chose work over… I know we had only known each other a while but I could tell it was going to be something special, and I blew it.”

Magnus stepped forward, breaching the rest of the gap between them and Alec’s breath caught in his lungs.”

“I won’t say what you did or said was right, and it hurt, but I know you Alexander, because what we have is special,” Alec had no time to process the use of present tense before Magnus’ perfect lips were on his, and his wonderfully warm hands were on his cheeks, filling his whole body with a sweet heat that short circuited his brain, and then jump started it again.

His hands rose and cupped around the magicians neck softly eliciting a tiny hum. They stayed like that for a while before Alec hissed in pain, and withdrew. 

“Is everything okay?” Magnus startled, a worried, vulnerable look on his face, “Is this not what you…”

Alec looked wide eyed, “No, no Magnus trust me it’s just,” he lift the hem of his shirt up enough to reveal the angry red scar on his chest, “I must have gotten a bit excited,” he smiled, a little strained.

“Oh my goodness, Magnus’ hand hovered over the scar for a moment, then must have thought better of it, “Please sit, sit,” he directed Alec to a small ledge by the window of the bar, where he helped him recline for a second, “the marks of a great hero,” he smiled at Alec to comfort him, eyes crinkling at the corners. Alec didn’t think he get tired of that face.

The door to the bar swung open for probably the tenth time since they had started talking but they had been too caught up to notice.

“Ehem,” Maia said subtly, she was rugged up for the weather, it was getting colder, “this is adorable and I hate to break it up but I’m headed home and it’s getting pretty awful, would you two want a ride?”

*****

So they took a ride with Maia, Alec insisting Magnus sit shotgun, (‘she’s not a chauffer Magnus!’) as much as it pained him to sit that far away from him. He was still kind of amazed he’d been given another chance and didn’t feel like letting that slip away.

“So the infamous Alec Lightwood,” Maia said smiling at him through the rearview mirror, “you fucked up bad huh?”

“Maia!”

“Hey just stating the facts Bane, but then I heard he kicked someone’s ass and busted up one of the biggest burglary ring in the city, would have love to have seen that,” she said excitedly.

“It wasn’t so much fun up close… I’m pretty sure I don’t even have a job anymore anyway,” he sulked back in his seat and rested his hand on his stomach.

Magnus swivelled his head around to look at him, “What? That’s outrageous they can’t do that to you, you should be commended!”

He shrugged, “I didn’t follow proper procedures. I’m lucky I’m not being charged with anything. Anyway,” he “the breaks been nice. Been able to rest, do some stuff around the house…”

“That’s awesome, I heard you were sort of just moping around. At least that’s what Jace said to Clary.”

Alec frowned; he needed to have a serious talk with his brother about privacy. Magnus swivelled again looking at him concerned, “You were moping?” Alec offered him a weak smile and then sat forward to lightly squeeze the magicians hand, trying to convey everything he was feeling, how he’d missed him. He wasn’t so good with words, especially not with an audience.

Maia smiled at them, genuine affection on her face. She wasn’t being rude with what she was saying, quite the opposite, she seemed to like Alec and were happy he’d come back for Magnus. “You know that card trick? The one Bane did at the end of his show?”

“Maia..” Magnus warned nervously.

“Fine. I won’t tell him that you’ve done the trick every night since you started at the bar, and it MAY have had something to do with a certain tall and awkward cop who captured your heart” she said, Magnus sighed, squeezing Alec’s hand back, though it was awkward. 

“We should have caught an Uber.”

*****

Alec restrained himself, as much as possible as they burst through Magnus’ door, lips locked, stumbling to turn the light on. He wanted to take in every inch of Magnus that he’d missed in the last two months, but remained tentative, taking it only as far as the magician wanted.

Lukily for him Magnus seemed just as eager, all hard thoughts of the past thrown out the window as he kissed at Alec’s jaw and slid a hand down his pants, making him rut up slightly.

It was dirtier than the handful of times they’d had sex before, all desperate kisses, love bites that left marks on skin, and sweat dripping down their backs. By the time they were finished they both felt totally full and content, drunk off of each other’s scent and holding hands so tightly their fingers could have broken.

They talked for a while, simple stuff, content listening to the rumble of each others voices, but after a while Magnus spoke up, Alec could see the other man gearing up to say something, to find the courage, and Alec had braced himself for it, ready to take any heat that came his way. He was ecstatic to have Magnus back in his life, but the other man surely had some things to say about how things ended before right? He wasn’t expected what came up next, head resting on the magicians belly as Magnus carded his fingers through his hair.

“Alexander,” he began quietly, “I spoke to Isabelle, that night after I left the police station, and she rang me…” What? Izzy never mentioned that, oh god what had they said about him.

“I was already in quite a state, but she called me, frantic after she found out what happened. She said to me that I was under no obligation to forgive you-“

“Ouch,” Alec chuckled nervously.

“Don’t worry Alexander I think we established just now that I have forgiven you a million times over. But I was curious all the same, the look in your eyes that day, it was like… You weren’t really there, your eyes where somewhere else and you looked… Let’s just say you didn’t look well rested,” this elicited another chuckle from Alec. “Where were you?”

Alec thought for a moment, thought of brushing it off with a quick, “I was stressed,” but the genuine concern and curiosity in Magnus’ voice compelled him to talk.

“Ever since I was a kid… My parents were very strict. They expected the best of us. I’d do anything to get they’re approval… Pathetic I know…”

Magnus’ hand stopped rubbing his hand through Alec’s hair, and lifted his chin, staring into his eyes, “Alexander don’t say that, every child deserves the unconditional love from their parents, to feel accepted. But sometimes, for whatever reason, some parents fall short… It is never the child’s fault.”

Alec smiled weekly, shifting around so he could comfortably nestle his face into Magnus’ shoulder. “Well like you said, mine fell short sometimes. They meant well but… Any I would do anything to please them, I’d work so hard at school and sports, until I’d worked myself sick… And II felt I needed to look after Jace and Izzy too. They had the right Idea… They went out and lived, they didn’t stress themselves, but I didn’t want my parents to get mad at them so I made sure they’d never see their messes, their rowdiness…”

“And you still feel that need,” there was a sudden understanding in Magnus’ voice. Alec hid his face, rubbing it against Magnus’ soft skin, embarrassed, or ashamed.

“Yeah… So sometimes, when things get messy or they need my help… I tend to go a bit overboard. But it’s become more than that,” he thought pensively, this was the first time he’d talked openly about this. Usually it was a silent understanding between them, he’d seen their worried glances, their whispered conversations and attempts to pull him out of it. “Like a compulsion… Restlessness… I can’t drown it out.” 

Magnus scooched over until this where so close Alec could feel his breath on his skin, and look clearly into his dark eyes, and he felt calm. Magnus didn’t say much, after that, offering silent consolations, small kisses, rubbing his thumb on Alec’s skin. There’d never be an easy fix for it, it was something he had to really try to work through, to not be afraid to ask other people for help, to talk about what he was feeling. Lying next to Magnus however, he felt comfortable and safe, anchored almost.

“But no matter what… Whatever I’m going through I can’t take that out on other people. Having issues doesn’t give you a free pass to be shitty to people.”

Magnus looked at him fondly, a twinkle in his eye, “Your right about that, but I have tough skin Alexander. I know what I’m worth… I’ll admit I was thrown for a while… What you said ran through my head for a while, had me doubting my talents and what I do… But it didn’t last… I actually moved on from it, forgave you in my head even… I was just to afraid to come see you, thinking you wouldn’t want to see me. Then I got the job at the bar, Maia insisted they hire me right away,” he chuckled fondly, “I still thought of you tho… whenever I did that card trick…”

It was impossible for Alec to pull Magnus forward anymore as they were already so close, nose to nose, arms and legs tangled awkwardly together. It was so intimate Alec felt his chest ache.

“We’re really are a mess aren’t we?” Magnus chuckled, “You want to stay over?”

“Of course.” It was already the early hours of the morning, so they woke up at about the midday, had sex again, and not feeling like leaving the house, Magnus cooked them breakfast, which they ate in between make out sessions.

*****

Alec Lightwood was the sweetest person Magnus had ever known. He was attentive, and thoughtful, and adorably protective even though Magnus was perfectly capable of looking after himself.

Since they’d gotten back together they’d been on its of dates where Alec had played the perfect gentleman, in his own stilted, sweet way. But, not one to ever be outdone Magnus had done plenty of romantic (and sexy) things in return. It became a sort of game, who could be the best boyfriend. I think Magnus could safely say they had both won.

Tonight Magnus planned on looking after the both of them. It had been two and a half months since they officially got back together, and in all that time Alec had been out of work. He’d decided after everything that going back to the force wouldn’t be in his best interest, he couldn’t heal and figure out what he really wanted in such a heated environment, so he had been doorknocking for some more upscale security firms. He was more than qualified Magnus had told him, and as per usual he was correct, because that night would be the end of Alec’s first shift, and so Magnus was cooking him dinner. He was making braciole, a dish he’d quickly learned was Alec’s favourite.

He stepped out of the kitchen to set the table and smiled as he looked out into the living room. If you’d been to one of Magnus’ parties the place wouldn’t seem any different, but Magnus had taken notice of, and grown to appreciate the little differences in his apartment since they had been together. They hadn’t moved in together (yet) because Alec was still helping his siblings with costs at their own home, but the ex-officer-of-the-law spent pretty much every night over and it showed.

It was oddly clean, Magnus wasn’t sloppy by any means but his boyfriend was on another level. The lowering of his work hours meant he had more time on his hands and as Magnus had told him, idle hands are the devils playthings, and he was sure he could find fun things for them to do, but when Magnus wasn’t readily available, Alec cleaned.

There was a big birthday card stuck to the fridge, given to him a month ago by Izzy and Jace. Alec had planned this big, beautiful party for him, his siblings had told Magnus that he’d fretted over every detail, and went to painstaking lengths to make sure that it stayed a surprise. He’d tried to cook apparently but ended up getting pizzas when the food got burned. 

Under that were tickets to a football game Magnus had surprised Alec with,he was so happy that day, it didn’t matter at all that Magnus didn’t know anything about sports at all.

Alec had his own draws in the bathroom full of hair gel, and a drawer in the wardrobe full of black.

There were photos of them together, on the fridge, in a little strip of Polaroids they kept in a frame.

On the couch was sprawled a comfortable looking knitted blanket, and Magnus smiled remembering how cozy and happy they had been under it the night before, watching Katherine Heigle movies until they fell asleep. The apartment might not have looked as pristine and well kept as it would have during one of his parties but Magnus still preferred it like this. 

He heard the door creak open, followed by an adorably obnoxious yawn as his boyfriend came through the door. “Honey I’m home!”

Alec had lightened up so much after he left the force, Magnus was constantly surprised how much of a dork he was when he wasn’t tied down with work. He really liked i., it had been a while since his life was filled with laughter and love.

“Oh darling,” Magnus kept up the bit, “Please tell me all about your day?” Alec stepped into the kitchen, and just like every other time his boyfriend entered a room his breath was taken from him. He looked tired, like he had been focussing on all the important things he had to do for work; his hair was a wild, bushy mess. He looked like a startled rabbit, it was quite adorable But it wasn’t that deep, down-to-the-bone exhaustion that used to haunt him on the force. It gave him the chance to focus without short circuiting and Alec was a completely different person for it.

“It was great! No one shot at me; I didn’t have to sit in a car with Jace. Still couldn’t wait to get home to you though.” He smiled, looking at Magnus, a twinkle in his eye, and it was all the magician could do not to pounce on him. He settled for wrapping his arms around his boyfriend’s waist, breathing in his scent.

He didn’t think his life could have gotten any greater at that point. He had this wonderful man who would do anything for him, he was living his dream job. But then an idea hit him.

 

“Magnus I’ve changed my mind I can’t do this this was a crazy…”

“Shush Alexander it’s too late now, all you have to do is stand there and look pretty,” he joked, eliciting a small smile from his boyfriend who was still clearly out of his comfort zone.

Magnus had taken his act back to the streets for one day only, business at the bar was booming so he hadn’t been to the station in months. He’d asked for Alec’s assistance in some tricks. He wasn’t about to force Alec, he just thought it would be fun and silly and was surprised when Alec agreed, eagerly even. Now he looked terrified.

“Okay well let’s get this over with,” he sighed unzipping his hoodie, revealing an all too tight vest Magnus had insisted upon. It had the same pattern as the jacket Magnus was wearing. Magnus smiled, turning on his music and grabbing a microphone, not totally necessary since he had already advertised the even and most of his fans were already there.

“Step right up and see Magnificent Magnus’ Marvellous Magic show! With a special guest appearance from my amazing assistant the Alluring Alec!”

He heard his boyfriend groan as Alec rested his forehead on Magnus’ shoulder in embarrassment.


End file.
